What Obscure Worlds!  A Tokio Hotel FanFic
by MAWSICLE
Summary: Nora is a girl full of flaws, and has fallen head over heels in love with a fellow World of Warcraft gamer. When the two players decide to meet in real life, what will Nora do when she learns that her online crush is the drummer to her favorite band?
1. Prologue

Hey guys! This is my very first story, so please be nice to me! Thanks for everyone who reads! This is a Tokio Hotel Fan Fiction!

What Obscure Worlds!~Prologue

September 8, 2009

_Hey everybody! So today is Labor Day, as all you American readers know(or I hope you know. 'Cause if you don't I might be wondering where you've been...). That also means only a couple more weeks until college starts... joy. Can you hear my extreme excitement? Yeah, I thought not._

_Anyway, since it's Labor Day and I'm inspired, I've decided to cook. Well, I guess the correct phrase would be attempt to cook... Yeah I know, scary right? Especially considering the last time I tried I managed to set my entire stove on fire..._

Suddenly, a shrill screeching fills my pitiful apartment.

"No no no no no! What the hell is there to burn? I'm boiling water!" I shout frustrated to myself. I dash from my living room table to my kitchen, where smoke is filling the air. Coughing, I notice that there is a flaming object on the stove... my oven mitt... my _99th_ oven mitt.

"Damn it!" I cry as I pick up the flaming mitt with my bare hands, only to end up dropping it back on the stove.

Note to future self; Don't pick up things that are on fire. They tend to burn you. As I scream in pain, I grab a pair of tongs and throw the mitt into the sink, turning the water on full blast. I then thrust my burning hand under the water, and after a few minutes pull it back out. I groan when I look at my bloody hand, white and burned skin peeling from my fingers. I re-shove my hand underneath the pounding water to prevent the intense burning that was raging in my fingers. With my free hand, I dialed an all to familiar number.

"Hello Dr. Gordon's office this is Mary how may I help you?" the secretary asks. When I don't say anything she sighs. "Nora Lia Bell what the hell did you do this time?" she yells in the phone. I purse my lips, then take a deep breathe before I respond.

"Uh... yeah. I picked up a flaming oven mitt."

"Why..."

"Because I was trying to cook and..."

"Again?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay. I'll schedule an appointment for 1:30 tomorrow to see Dr. Gordon, until then just do the basics. Got it, hun?" Mary asks me, and I tell her yes. I hang up the phone and turn off the water. I quickly go over to the cabinet that holds bowls and plates. I go to open the cabinet door, only to succeed in smashing my forehead into it.

"OW! Mother father!" I cry, stumbling back a little. Moaning, I carefully reopen the cabinet to get a bowl. I fill it up with cold water and ice cubes, then carefully take it back to my computer. I dunk my hand into the freezing water, and begin to finish my blog.

_Well, never mind. I WAS going to make some cup of noodles, but I managed to set my 99th pot holder on fire and give myself a 1st, or maybe 2nd degree burn... hopefully 2nd degree..._

_Anyway, I'm going to order pizza. Nora is out for tonight._

_Have a good Labor Day evening..._

_~Nora Badora_

I sigh, pushing my computer back. I rub one of my temples with my free hand, wincing as I bumped the spot I had hit my head on earlier. I looked at my burned hand, the water pink from my blood. I grimaced and walked back over to the kitchen to get clean water. After I was done I grabbed my phone and dialed another all to familiar number.

"Godfathers Pizza this is Kirk how may I help you?"

"Hi Kirk."

Oh, hi Nora! Another small sardine sausage, olive and extra cheese pizza to be delivered?" he asks me, and I laugh sourly.

"You know, this is really sad. Both the doctors and you guys know me by voice." I tell him, and he laughs with me.

"Yeah, not gonna lie. It kinda is. Anyway, your total is..."

"10.68" I finish for him.

"Yeah. It'll be there in 20 minutes. Talk to you later Nora!"

_click_

"Talk to you later Nora." I mimic him, and I hang up my own phone. Depressed, I went back to the dinning room table and laid my head on it. My hand as starting to throb again, and I knew that I should ice it but I was too lazy to move. Instead, I did something else. A smile bloomed on my lips as I pulled my computer towards me. I logged on to World of Warcraft, ignoring the pain in my hand. I logged on as my most powerful character and entered a room. Soon I was zapped into a forestry area, and my computer beeps at me, indicating that someone was trying to get into contact with me. I looked at my message box, and I laughed giddily. _He_ was on.

_Metalica483: So, what did you do this time? :P_

_RedenMarionette: What makes you think that I did something? ;)_

_Metalica483: Because this is your most powerful character._

_RedenMarionette: And..._

_Metalica483: That means that you attempted something and it didn't work out. So, your frustrated and need to take your anger out on the endless amounts of creepy things on WOW. Thus, your most powerful character. _

_RedenMarionette: ... xP_

_Metalica483: Am I right?_

_RedenMarionette: Would you believe me if I said no?_

_Metalica483: No._

_RedenMarionette: Then no. You are completely off. xD_

_Metalica483: Uh huh. So what happened?_

_RedenMarionette: ... I tried to cook... and I burned my hand... again... and I destroyed my 99th pot holder... ;_;_

_Metalica483: ... Nora, what did we talk about with you and cooking?_

_RedenMarionette: Uh... don't do it?_

_Metalica483: To put it simply, yes._

_RedenMarionette: But..._

_Metalica483: No butts._

_RedenMarionette: But... I JUST WANTED CUP OF NOODLES DAMNIT! D: I'm tired of pizza. T-T_

_Metalica483: Cup of noodles? Don't you only need to boil water for those?_

_RedenMarionette: Yeah..._

_Metalica483: That's it. I officially ban you from cooking. End of discussion._

_RedenMarionette: Awww, Gustav don't get mad, it's not that big of a deal..._

_Metalica483: Yes it is. You always end up hurting yourself, and how much longer until you seriously hurt yourself? Wait, how bad is your burn?_

_RedenMarionette: It's not that bad. I've had worse._

I bit my lip as pain continued to throb in my hand, sweat beading on my forehead from the pain. Gustav was such a sweetie, I didn't want to worry him more than I already have. But, I couldn't help but feel happy that he was worried.

Gustav lived in Germany. My home state was California, but I was currently at school at Harvard Medical School to get my medical degree, which was in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He's a musician, though he's never told what his band name was, and I'm a college senior on a full-paid scholarship. I'm 19, almost 20, and he's 21. He knew what he wants out of life. Me, well... I barely know why I'm going to school. Sure, I love medicine, but I can't help but wonder if it's because of my parents history as doctors that I'm following their footsteps. Well, actually, I want to be a nurse not a doctor, but that defeats the point. Adding to this list, Gustav wasn't looking for anyone, while I had someone very specific in mind.

Of course, I'd rather die than tell Gustav that.

I see his character materialize to my left, and on my right a troll trudges in. When I see it, I smile.

_RedenMarionette: Hey Birthday boy, you want to help me kill this troll?_

_Metalica483: How did you know that it was my Birthday?_

_RedenMarionette: You told me you dope. :D_

_Metalica483: Oh... Thanks. :)_

_RedenMarionette: So, what do you say? Wanna help me? I can't do it by myself._

_Metalica483: Sure you can. You're several levels higher than it._

I smack myself in the head, laughing at his denseness. He was right though; the troll was a level 60. I was a level 75. It wasn't that I couldn't do it by myself, it's that I didn't want to.

_RedenMarionette: Just help me! Besides, you can get a bunch of stuff from trolls, and you don't see them that often..._

_Metalica483: You have a point. Okay, come one._

He starts to walk off, and I follow him. I get my attacks ready, the troll screeches as Gustav hits it with magic, it's LP decreasing rapidly. Within seconds, it falls to the ground in a depressing heap, and disappears. I smile as items in my inventory are updated, and my message box beeps.

_Metalica483: Nice job. :)_

_RedenMarionette: Ha ha thank you. You're not bad yourself. ;)_

_Metalica483: Oh I know. Anyway, I'm going to go to bed and try and get some sleep._

_RedenMarionette: Aww, okay. Sweet dreams, Birthday boy. 3_

_Metalica483: Ha ha thanks. 'Night, Nora._

_RedenMarionette: Guten Nacht, Gustav._

My heart beat pounds in my chest as I consider typing out one more line, my cheeks grow hot. After a second I pound on the keyboard, and send my last message to him.

_RedenMarionette: I love you._

_MessageDeliveryService: I'm sorry. METALICA483 is offline, and did not recieve your message. Please try again later._

I let out a sigh, not sure if I was relieved or disappointed. I watched my WOW character bounce up and down; something it does when idling. I log out of WOW and close my computer screen.

I guess I could just wait for my pizza alone.

_**W**__hat__**O**__bscure__**W**__orlds__**!**__~First Embarrassment, END_


	2. Chapter 1

What Obscure Worlds!~First Embarrassment

First Embarrassment

Gustav:

I slouch in our trailer. We were currently out and about in Europe, promoting our new single and our soon-to-be released album. We've preformed on countless shows already, and this was just the beginning.

I slouch further in my chair that I had unofficially claimed as my own. I wanted to get on World of Warcraft and talk to Nora some more, but it was in the middle of the night for her still. It as at times like these that I wished that we lived in the same time zone... or at least the same country. I continued to think of things that I could do to pass the time, when I remembered that Nora had a blog. I excitedly pulled my laptop out from it's case, and I connected to the internet. After 5 or so minutes of waiting, a bell rang from my computer speakers, signaling me that I was connected. I quickly sifted through the dozens of popup windows, and I soon opened a new page. I typed in the URL for her blog, and after waiting for several more minutes, the page loaded. I felt a smile bloom on my face as I saw that she had updated since I last checked.

_Hey everyone!_

_ So, today was my first day of college... enough said. Anyway, we talked about random facts in almost all of my periods, which brings me to the topic of my post today..._

_ Did you know, that in the coldest place on Earth, it only takes seconds to die from the exposure? At least thats what some guy said in my class, and all the people hear are supposed to be geniuses. Anyway, I write this with a note to my future self: Do not, under any circumstances, go to Antarctica. Because, being me, I will find a way to fall or trip or whatever, and I will die. I am just THAT amazing._

I laughed as I continued to read her post. She didn't have many readers, the blog was more of something to let off some steam; with an exception of World of Warcraft that is. I made sure to remember this fact for later, because I was sure that I would have to remind her of her note. Being Nora, and that is what she did best, she would find a way to prove this fact true, whether it be intentional or not.

When I was done catching up with her blog, I regrettably turn off my computer, closing it's lid. I slide it back into it's case, and I begin to slouch in my chair once again. I stay in this position, despite the howling complaints from my lower back, for the next 10 minutes. I blankly watch trees on the road zoom past us on the interstate, and I try to think of something else to do. The rest of the band was doing something else, hanging out on their own computers or watching TV. After about 20 minutes of doing absolutely nothing but staring out the window, I decided that I would go join the rest of the band. I carefully stood up and worked my way back to the bedrooms, where everyone else was watching the poor excuse for a TV quite intently. When I position myself on the ground, I see that everyone was watching _Scrubs_. Suddenly, the reason for their quietness and lack of attention to my entrance seemed to make sense.

"Hey guys," I grunted, but the only response I got was a string of complaints, all of them telling me to be quiet. I checked the watch on my wrist, and I saw that there was only 5 minutes until the new hour, meaning that the episode was almost over. I patiently turned my head back to the screen, and I soon found myself laughing as the main character poked fun at whatever the situation was. No sooner did I start becoming interested in the show did the episode end, and I found myself laughing with the rest of the gang about the show.

"God, I love this show..." Bill, our lead singer, commented as he stretched, playfully smacking his twin brother in the face. When he saw that he had hit his twin, he gave a cocky smile. "Oh, sorry there Tom," He said sarcastically. His brother responded by smacking Bill on the back of the head. Our guitarist quickly dodged the oncoming fist of Bill, laughing as his brother fell out of the bed. I rolled my eyes as the twins once again began picking fun at each other, an never ending battle between the two. I turned my attention towards our eldest member, Georg, who was also our bassist. He gave me an understanding look, and we broke out in smiles.

"So, how is Nora doing?" He asked me randomly, and I groaned.

"As good as ever, She managed to set her oven mitt on fire by just boiling water, and she burned herself again," I said, and I felt irritation prod at me as I thought back to that conversation. "I don't understand how she does it. She barely does anything, but she'll manage to set anything and everything on fire! It's so frustrating, I can't go a day without worrying about that klutz!" I rant to him, and he laughs at me. I glare at him, but he continues to smile, amused by my irritation. "It's not funny, Georg, she could seriously hurt herself someday," I point out to him, and he shrugs.

"Yes, she can. But you can't do anything about it. And yes, this is actually quite funny. You never get worked up about someone like this unless it's one of us or your family, so it's quite amusing." He states. Annoyed, I throw a pillow at him, and he throws it back at me. I catch it, and I toss it on the bed. After a moment of silence, I start the conversation up again.

"So, how are things with Heidi?" I ask him, and he smiles fondly at the thought of her.

"Pretty good. She's being really flexible with me being gone a lot, so thats a relief. I was freaked that she would have second thoughts about our relationship once Automatic was released and things started becoming hectic," he told me, and I could hear his immense relief in every word that he spoke. I smiled at him, glad that he was able to finally find a girlfriend. Being apart of the most popular band in Germany made it rather difficult to find someone to have a relationship with that wanted you for _you_.

"Well, I'm sure she's had lot's of second thoughts... after all, she's dating the Hobbit," I tease him, and he smirks at me. 'The Hobbit' was the nick name that we gave Georg, how it started I have no clue, but I think it was one of the twins. I turned my attention to Bill and Tom, who were now eating whatever we had in the fridge. Irritated, I shouted at them. "Hey, don't eat all the food! Save some of it for us, or at least dinner!" I shout at them, but Tom just waves his hand at me, disregarding my comment. I pursed my lips together, then turned my attention back to my diminishing conversation with Georg.

"Any new updates on World of Warcraft?" Georg asks me. I shake my head no, not bothering to make a verbal reply. Georg joined me every once in awhile on the online game, but I was the most frequent player. Most of the time he just mooched off of me and used my characters.

"Not anything worth remembering." I tell him. We continue to sit there in silence, the hum of the trailer driving down the road ringing throughout the trailer. "What else are we doing today?" I asked to no one in particular.

"I think we are just traveling to our next destination, a pretty boring day." Tom says, pushing his black cornrows over his shoulder.

"Really? Where are we going again?" BIll asks me, and I take a moment to think. But, before I can answer, his twin responds.

"Greece. We are going to preform a few songs there, and then we have some interviews. The usual." Tom answers, his mouth stuffed with the remainder of his sandwich. He dusted off his hands on his pants, and then sat at the trailer table, opening his own laptop. He was probably going to update the blog he had set up for our fans; we had taken longer than expected to release our newest album, so he had this brilliant idea to start a blog to keep the fans entertained. I had to give him credit, it was smart, and creative in that weird Tom way.

We continued the drive to Greece in silence, waiting until we could stop to get something to eat. Bill and Tom had, despite me kindly asking them not too, ate the remainder of the food in the trailer, with an exception of some snack food. So, we kicked back, eating Dorrito's and watching TV on our sad little television. We continued this way until we stopped for the night, and then we ate dinner. After a boring dinner, we all clamored back into the trailer, waiting for our producer to come talk to us about the upcoming week. After about an hour, we heard a familiar voice come from outside, and within a few seconds David Jost, our producer, was in our trailer finding a place to sit. We all got situated so that we could listen to whatever he had to say, and once we were all comfortable he started.

"Hey boys," he began, and we laughed and greeted him with our own 'hello's'. "As you know, we are on our way to Greece. When we get there, you will be preforming Automatic and Humanoid, then we have some interviews with some magazines and radio stations. After that, we will be back in Germany for more interviews and such. We will spend the rest of September in Germany, and once _Humanoid_ is out, we will start traveling all over Europe, make a few stops in Spain, and then in the U.S." He tells us, and I can feel my band members excitement growing. All of us have been away from the stage for more than half a year, busily working on our soon-to-be-released album, _Humanoid_. We've had our break, and now we are more than ready to go back on stage and preform. Especially Bill. Being the vocalist, he was ready to sing our newest songs, and we were all eager to preform something different. As much as we enjoyed our older songs, we've been preforming those ones for years; first in Europe, then in the United States. We've had those songs since we were in our early teens, we were all ready for a change.

We talked with Jost a little longer, and after awhile left us to do whatever it was we wanted to do. I pondered getting on World of Warcraft and chewing up some time on that. After 10 minutes of heavy debating with myself, I finally pulled my computer up from it's traveling case. I connected myself to the internet, and a few minutes later I was roaming the heavily forested areas of the game. I walked around aimlessly, picking up random treasures and defeating puny enemies along the way, not sure what I was doing. After awhile I decided to work on my latest quest, where I soon saw a familiar light flash.

_Your friend, REDENMARIONETTE is online._

I felt myself smile as I saw this message, and I clicked on her username, causing a chat window to appear. I typed in a hello, and pressed send.

"Awww, is your girlfriend on Gusti?" Bill teases me, and I feel irritation tweak at me.

"She's not my girlfriend." I say bluntly, and I can see Bill roll his eyes, the rest of the band snickering.

"Of course, what was I thinking?" he replied sarcastically, but I ignored him when I heard my computer beep at me. I hear my band mates hurry over to look over my shoulder at Nora's response.

_RedenMarionette: Hey there, Gusti! How are you, it's been a couple weeks! How is things with the band going, you getting homesick yet?_

"Hey, she stole our nick name!" Bill whines, and I smile. I was about to type a response when my computer slides off the table and into the hands of Tom.

"Oi! Give it back, Tom!" I shout at him, irritated. I heard him snicker as he kidnaps my computer and sits on the couch. Then, I watch in horror as he starts typing away at the keyboard. I hurry over to where he was, and I look at the conversation that he was having.

_Metalica483: Hey there, Nora. This is Tom, the guitarist in the band, same one Gusti is in. ;)_

_ RedenMarionette: Ha ha. Hi there, Tom. How is life?_

_ Metalica483: Pretty good. Life is rather boring though just hanging out with these guys._

_ RedenMarionette: Something tells me you don't mean that... :)_

_ Metalica483: You're right. I don't. However, it is VERY amusing to watch Gustav get all bubbly whenever he talks to or about you..._

_ RedenMarionette: Aww, you don't mean that. _

_ Metalica483: No, no! I'm serious! He's totally in love with you._

"Hey!" I shout, officially mad. I snatch my computer from Tom's evil hands, and I stomp away to my bed, where I can at least have some peace from the rest of the band. As I make myself comfortable on my bunk, I plug in my headphones into the computer and play random music, trying to block the laughter from my band mates. I turn the volume up, and then I continue my conversation with Nora. This time it was just Nora and I, and nobody was taking my place.

_**W**__hat__**O**__bscure__**W**__orlds__**!**__~First Embarrassment, END_


	3. Chapter 2

What Obscure Worlds!~Second Embarrassment

Second Embarrassment

Nora:

"Next time, please be prepared for your midterm! Also, I've said this time and time again, but I'm going to say it again. I will not accept any late work! This means don't come to me with your late essays or papers or whatever!" I smile to myself as I slowly pack up my belongings, proud that I have yet to miss an assignment. I make my way to the door, the last one leaving. I'm about to enter the hallway when my professor stops me. "Nora, is that you?" he calls, and I backtrack into the classroom.

"Yeah, it's me. Is there something wrong?" I ask, a little nervous. I didn't get called out by the teacher much, at least, not when class was over. When he sees my anxious face, he gives me a comforting smile.

"Everything is fine. I actually wanted to bring this up to you..." he says, and I watch as he searches through a pile of papers on his desk. After a minute or so of muttering, he finally pulls out a wrinkled paper. "Ah ha! Here we go. You're fluent in German, correct?" He asks me, and I nod my head. "Great, because there is this trip that one of the students is planning. It would be during the school year, so you would miss some school. You are way ahead of your classes, otherwise I wouldn't be talking to you about this, but here is the information. If you decide to go, you would leave in November, and it continues until mid-January. Since you would be missing school, each of your classes would give you the material you would be missing, and you will be required to write a paper based off a subject that would be related to your trip." I carefully take the paper, and I laughed as I read the flier.

_ Wenn Sie verstehen können, was das sagt, dann sind Sie berechtigt, um sich einer Reise nach Deutschland anzuschließen!_

_ If you are interested about this trip and are fluent-or close to fluent-in this language, then please call the number at the bottom of this sheet._

_ By the way, if you had no idea what the sentence above said, then you might as well put this flier down._

I read over the first sentence again, making sure that I was positive about it's meaning. I laughed again at the flier, and I folded it in half.

"Thanks, Mr. Lazzaro! I'll take a look at this when I get back to my apartment," I tell him, and he winks at me.

"You deserve to go. Besides, once you get your nursing license, it will be near impossible to get a decent vacation. Enjoy the time while you still got it. Plus, like I said, you're far enough in your classes that I'm not worried about you falling behind" he told me, and I couldn't help but feel proud from his praise. I expressed my thanks one last time, and with a final goodbye, I left the classroom.

Since that was my final class for the day, I decided to go straight home. I was excited to look at this flier and see if it was possible for me to go. I hurried down the road to the bus stop, arriving just as the bus pulled up to the curb. I quickly climbed aboard, and after showing the driver my pass took my seat near the back. I turned my head towards the window, watching as the passed people on the street, an occasional biker. Out of habit, I twirled a strand of my hair, wincing a little as my burn from Labor day brushed up against the wall of the bus. The burn was healing nicely, and I was praying that it wouldn't leave a scar. My parents wouldn't be terribly happy if it left a noticeable scar, and it's just embarrassing.

I saw my bus stop come up, and I rang the bell, signaling the driver to stop. I stood up, waiting for the bus to come to a complete stop. That, however, was a big mistake, because when the bus actually did stop, it sent me flying down the bus aisle way. I heard some snickering as I pulled myself up off the floor, and I could feel my face heat up. I hurry down the aisle, muttering my thanks to the driver. I stumbled off the bus, barely managing to land on the concrete on my feet. As the bus drives away, I take a deep breath, and then start making my way up towards the apartment complex.

When I reached the top of the building, I let myself in. Dropping my bag at the front door, I went and collapsed on my bed. I closed my eyes for a moment, and I felt sleep start to take it's warm grip over my conscious... Then, I reminded myself about the Germany flier. I bolted into an upright position, and energy that was missing before was suddenly there. A smile bloomed on my face, and I carefully skipped through my apartment and to my front door. I grabbed my bag and worked my way back to my bedroom. I pulled out the flier and my cell phone. Suddenly, nerves began forming themselves in the pit of my stomach, and I bit my lip.

"Calm down, Nora. You can do this. Just be you, without the shyness. Pretend your typing on the computer!" I cheered myself on, and I felt confidence fill me. I took a deep breathe, and before I could change my mind I quickly dialed in the number on the bottom of the sheet. I placed the phone to my ear, and I waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello, this is Diane speaking," a bubbly voice sang from the other end of the receiver. My nerves began to increase, and I found myself unable to say anything. "Hello? Is anyone there?" she asked, and I nodded my head, even though she wouldn't know that.

"H-Hello?" I ask shyly into the phone.

"Hi there! I was beginning to think that there was no one on the other end!" Diane said cheerfully, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm really shy. So, uh, I received one of your fliers? The one about the trip to Germany." I said as clearly as I could manage through my shaking voice. I heard a gasp erupt from the other end.

"Yay! This is so exciting, another person!" she exclaimed, and I heard some excited shouting from the background. "So, what's your name?" she asked me, and I took another deep breathe.

"It's, my name, I mean. Ah crap. My name is Nora. Nora Bell." I tell her, and I can hear a smile come from the other end.

"Well, Nora. Are you interested in a trip to Germany?" she asked me, and I smiled again.

"Absolutely."

"Great! So give me your e-mail, and I can send you all the other information that you will need. Like the exact dates, the cost, hotels, schedule, etcetera , etcetera." I listened eagerly as Diane blabbered about the trip. She talked about all the places that the group was going to go to, and about how this was a great opportunity to perfect our knowledge of the German language. After about 20 minutes, we ended out call, and e-mails were exchanged. I hung up my phone, and I placed it on it's charger. It was almost out of battery.

I laid back down on my bed, and this time I didn't try to stop the sleep from wrapping itself around me. I felt my breathing become even and my breathes became deeper, and I let my imagination fill itself with thoughts of my upcoming trip. Diane said that we would be staying in Berlin for most of the time, but we weren't required to stay with the group. Since we were adults and we can legally do whatever the hell we wanted, they couldn't stop us from leaving the city. She made it clear though that they weren't going to wait for any members who went astray from the group; if you left the group, you were responsible for getting back.

This whole trip idea got me thinking though. Gustav lived in Germany. When I was talking to him, it sounded like he would still be in Germany during the times that I would be there. All this lead me to one goal in my mind. During my visit, I wanted to see Gustav.

I knew that this was a bad idea. After all, I had no real proof if he was a real person. But, on the other hand, Gustav and I have been talking online for almost 2 and a half years; I trusted him more that anyone else I knew. Even if I couldn't say it to him, I loved Gustav, and I wanted to see the real him.

Not Metalica483.

I wanted to meet Gustav Shäffer, the drummer to a popular European band, whose name I still don't know.

ibW/bhatbO/bbscurebW/borldsb!/b~Second Embarrassment, END/i


	4. Chapter 3

Third Embarrassment

Gustav:

I sit in the recliner that is backstage, continuing to rock out to Metalica and pound on air drums, something that I do before a show or a performance, it helps relieve my nerves. The song ends, and I take off my headphones; it was almost time for us to go on stage. I twirl my drum sticks in my hand and I join the rest of the band at the stage entrance, where the announcer was getting the crowd pumped up. It was just a small performance, nothing big, but it was our first one in several months. Even though neither of us would dare admit it, we were all nervous.

"And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, I introduce you to the number 1 German band in the world, Bill, Tom, Gustav, and Georg from Tokio Hotel!"

The sounds of screaming girls escalates, and we take that as our cue to come on stage. We all smile, and Bill leads us out into the open. When Bill reaches the entrance the screaming continues, and soon the entire band is enveloped in colored lights, screaming fans, and music equipment. I go to my drum set, and Bill takes his usual place by the microphone.

"Hey everyone!" Bill shouts, and we hear hundreds of replies being shout at us. "It feels so good to be back, here on stage. Tonight, we are going to play a couple songs for you, and then the rest of the show will go on. So now, put your hands together for _Automatic_!"

The fans scream even louder, and the Tom and Georg begin the first lines. I join them, and soon Bill is singing along.

_You're automatic,_

_ And your heart's like an engine_

_ I die with every beat_

_ You're automatic,_

_ And you're voice is electric_

_ Why do I still believe?_

_ It's automatic_

_ Everywhere in you letter_

_ A lie that makes me bleed_

_ It's automatic when you say things get better_

_ But they never..._

_ There's no real love in you..._

Bill continues into the chorus, and I smile to myself as we hear the audience singing along to our newly released single, and I felt a sense of home wash over me. I began to play my drums with even more enthusiasm, and I can feel the energy of the audience flowing through my body, my own energy source. The end of the song comes up, and I make sure to end it a little flashier than usual. When we end, the crowd screams, and Bill give a little bow. We all stand up and make our way back stage, but not before I toss my drum sticks into the crowd. I find my way backstage with the rest of the group, and we are greeted by Jost, who gives us all high fives and compliments us. I ignore them all and make my way to the chair I was sitting in before, and I waited for everyone else to get ready. Despite the shows wishes, we weren't able to stay after our performance, we needed to get back on the road and continue our way back to where ever it was we needed to get to.

We arrived at the trailer with no problems, and we all collapse on our respective seats or beds. Jost comes in and gives us a speech about how well we did, but I tune it out. All I can think about is getting on my laptop and talking to Nora, seeing what she was up to. When Jost leaves, our trailer starts rolling, and we are on our way. I carefully make my way to the trailer table, and I pull out my computer. I see Tom smirk out of the corner of my eye, and I flip him off. Snickering fills the trailer, but I tune them out by placing my headphones over my head and blasting Metalica. I smile to myself as I see Bill complain to Tom about me, but I didn't care. I pull up World of Warcraft, and I see a familiar face online. I was about to click on her name to open a chat window when my message box beeps. I open it up, and to my surprise she sent me one first.

_RedenMarionette: GUSTAV!_

_ Metalica483: Whoa, hi there! Why are you screaming at me?_

_ RedenMarionette: Because, I have great news! :D_

_ Metalica483: Okay, what is it?_

_ RedenMarionette: Guess!_

_ Metalica483: Oh, okay... um... I don't know. What is it?_

_ RedenMarionette: Oh come on, thats no fun. Seriously, guess._

_ Metalica483: Okay then! Uh... you won a million dollars?_

_ RedenMarionette: No, but that would be cool. Guess again._

_ Metalica483: Um... You learned how to cook?_

_ RedenMarionette: That's not funny, and no. _

_ Metalica483: Okay then, tell me! What is it?_

I waited impatiently for her, excited for what had happened. I waited as she typed up her answer, and I began to get impatient for a response. Finally, my message box beeped, and I greedily read her message. When I finished, I just about fell out of my seat.

_RedenMarionette: I'm coming to Germany. I'll be here in November, all the way to January. I... I would like to see you._

I stare in shock at her message, unable to do anything. She was coming to Germany, and during the time that the band would be there too. As I stare at the message, I'm finally able to understand what was written to me.

"Holy crap, she's coming to Germany!" I shout, and I'm suddenly surrounded by my band mates. I can hear whooping as they read my message, but I can only stare in shock.

Nora was coming. We would be able to meet. All I could think at the moment was holy crap. . . and WOW!

_**W**__hat __**O**__bscure __**W**__orlds!~Third Embarrassment ,END_


	5. Chapter 4

Fourth Embarrassment

Nora:

_RedenMarionette: I'm coming to Germany. I'll be here in November, all the way to January. I... I would like to see you._

I wait nervously for his reply, I was so excited I could barely contain myself. It was still early October, but I was still excited to go. After all, it was the birth place of my father, though I've never visited the country. I fumble around in my seat as I wait for his reply, and after 5 grueling minutes my message box beeps.

_Metalica483: You're coming to Germany? Seriously, no joke?_

I breathe a sigh of relief when he messages me back. Butterflies attack my stomach as I nervously type in my reply.

_RedenMarionette: Yep, no joke. I'll be leaving the first week of November, and then I'll be leaving in the middle of January._

I press send, and once again I wait for his reply. Butterflies attack me once again as I wait, and my excitement continues to grow. My message box beeps, and I eagerly open the message.

_Metalica483: This is great! The band will be here to, so maybe..._

_RedenMarionette: Maybe we could meet?_

_ Metalica483: Yeah. That is, if you're comfortable. After all, I'm just some guy you met on the internet._

_ RedenMarionette: I'm just some girl._

_ Metalica483: You have a point._

_ RedenMarionette: Of course._

_ Metalica483: Do you want to..._

_ RedenMarionette: Meet up? Definitely._

_ Metalica483: Really?_

_ RedenMarionette: Of course! How long have I known you? A year? I think it's time that we finally saw the face behind the name... or, I think so at least. Do you want to?_

_ Metalica483: Do I want to meet you? Yes._

Butterflies erupt violently when I read that last part, and I felt my face flush to a deep red. He wants to meet me! Me, the klutz who can't even boil water or walk down some stairs without doing something to herself. Gustav wants to meet Nora, and by God Nora wanted to meet Gustav. I bite my lip in excitement, and I begin to type another message.

_RedenMarionette: That's great! Umm... when do you want to meet?_

_ Metalica483: That depends. When does your flight come in?_

_ RedenMarionette: We fly in on the 6th. Give me a couple days for jet lag and..._

_ Metalica483: So the 9th?_

_ RedenMarionette: That sounds good to me. :D_

_Metalica483: Good. So, do we have a date?_

Upon reading those last words, I just about fall out of my chair. My hear thundering a million miles a minute, a deep blush forms itself on my face. Did he just say date? Like, a date date? Like where two people meet and hang out... Well that would be what we are setting up, wouldn't it Nora? He probably means the dates that friends go on, not a romantic type of date... Right?

I take a couple shaky breathes, and I finally have the courage to type in my responding message.

_RedenMarionette: Yep, it's a date! So, Monday the 9th... where shall we meet, my friend? ;D_

_ Metalica483: Hmmm... I'll have to get back to you on that. Wait, where is your hotel located?_

_ RedenMarionette: The hotel that we are staying at is in Berlin, but I can meet you halfway..._

_ Metalica483: No. There is NO way I am letting you ride on a bus alone... knowing you you will get lost and fall in a hole._

_ RedenMarionette: Hey, thats not nice!_

_ Metalica483: It's true._

_ RedenMarionette: Yeah, it is, but that defeats the point. It's called manners._

_ Metalica483: Psh._

_ RedenMarionette: Did you just 'Psh' me?_

_ Metalica483: Uh... yeah?_

_ RedenMarionette: Ugh. RUDENESS._

_ Metalica483: So sorry._

_ RedenMarionette: No your not._

_ Metalica483: You're right. I'm not._

_ RedenMarionette: Then don't apologize! If you don't mean it don't do it! D:_

Our conversation continues on like this for a couple hours. Finally, Gustav tells me that he has to sign off for the day. We regrettably part ways, and when I see his character sign off I do the same. I close my computer and continue to sit at the table, excited for the month to come. I realized that I should call Diane to let her know of my plans, but I figured that I could do that later. Right now, I was stuck in this emotional state called bliss. Complete and utter freaking bliss.

Lying in my bed that night, I decided to listen to my iPod. I crawled over my sheets and reached down into my messenger bag, my tank top riding up. After shifting through I finally found the tangled mess of headphones that was dutifully attached to my iPod. I pulled it out and crawled back over to my pillow, where I started the tedious task of untangling my earbuds. When they were finally untangled, I put each speaker in it's respectable ear. I scrolled through my hundreds of artists, and I chose the album to my favorite band at the moment.

They were German, though I haven't looked past that. I didn't know the names of the members or how old they were, just what they looked like. Or, I assumed that it was them on the covers of their CD's. Not entirely sure which album I wanted to listen to listen to, I decided to put their songs on shuffle. After a second the first song appeared, and I smiled.

It was one of my favorites.

I laid on my back, my arms and legs spread out. I wiggled my toes and tapped my fingers on my leg to the beat of the song. Within seconds of the song starting, the soothing voice of the singer came on.

_I'm staring at a broken door_

_ There's nothing left here anymore_

_ The room is cold, it's making me insane. . ._

I smiled when I remembered that they currently resided in Germany. I had their latest single, and I was incredibly excited for their new album to come out. Thinking of the band and Germany, I laughed when I thought that I could possibly run into the band themselves. I laughed to myself, telling myself that this was a silly fangirl dream.

Listening to the song, I lifted my iPod up to my face and woke it up, showing the album cover. There, the band members stared at me, the lead singers mouth open in a silent scream. While I found him attractive, I found that I was more attracted to the another member.

He resided in the right corner of the album cover, his arms were crossed. He had blonde, short hair, and I felt myself blush. _I really need to look up the names of the members. . ._ I told myself. I almost got up and looked it up right at that moment, but I could feel sleep starting to take it's toll on me. I sighed, closing my eyes.

I guess I would have to research Tokio Hotel another day.

ibW/bhatbO/bbscurebW/borldsb!/b~Fourth Embarrassment, END/i


	6. Chapter 5

Fifth Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

It's November 5th now, and I brought my scarf closer to me as I walked through my hometown. The band and I were excited for the tour, and we were still doing a lot of prep work for the tour. It was tiring, but it was still really exciting. As a result however, I've been unable to talk with Nora as much as we've both been used to. She's been busy on her side as well, getting everything caught up with school and scrambling to get ready for Germany. Since we weren't sure when the next time we talked online would be, I gave her my cell phone number for when Nora finally got to Germany so she would be able to contact me. . . and even for when she wanted to call when she was still in the US. But, Nora being Nora, she refuses to use the phone number unless it was an emergency. When I told her that getting lost would be considered an emergency she attempted to shun me on WOW. Needless to say, it didn't work very well.

Her blog has been filled with her plans in Germany. She talks a lot about Diane, the person who is coordinating the trip, along with Brian and May, two other people who were coming on the trip. She posted some pictures of her and the group on the blog as well, and I couldn't help but think that she was cute. She wears these dorky nerd glasses that I'm sure would make Bill cringe. She had huge bright blue eyes and chocolate brown hair that she keeps in a ponytail most of the time. I wasn't really sure what attracted me to her, but something about her just felt familiar and safe. Looking at her face and her eyes just made me want to smile.

As I hunch over in the cold wind, I scurry to my apartment. It takes a few tries for me to finally open my door because my fingers are so numb, but when I finally do I'm greeted by the warm embrace of my heater. I let out a content sigh, and I unwrap my body from the thick scarf. I had received it as a gift from my mother recently, and when I pressed it up against my nose I could still smell her heavenly scent. It was the smell I grew up with, it was the smell of comfort, it was the smell of home.

I placed my scarf and jacket on the coat rack and slipped off my shoes. I placed them neatly by the front door, making sure that they were straight. Bill and Tom would often tease me about my orderly needs, but I would just remind them that I never lost anything, unlike Bill and Tom who seem to loose something on a daily basis.

I walked into my apartment, my feet sinking slightly in to the thick carpet. The people who I was renting the apartment from decided to re-carpet the entire place, so it still had a spongey feel to it when I walked through the place. Much to my annoyance I couldn't get rid of the new carpet smell, which left me stuck smelling it al day or until I couldn't stand it anymore. Normally, I would have just opened a window, but it was getting so cold that opening a window was no longer an option.

I walked into the kitchen, intending on making myself something to eat. I was hungry after being at the studio all day, and I wanted to eat dinner and then go to bed. I had the whole next week off, which conveniently matched up with when Nora and I would be meeting on the 9th. I smiled at the thought of seeing her.

As I put a pot on to boil, I heard my phone ring. Curious and slightly irritated that someone would be calling me at 8:00 in the evening, I reached for my cell, only to find that I didn't recognize the number. I debated on whether to pick it up or not, and at the last possible second I flipped my phone open. I put it to my ear.

"Hallo?" I ask into the phone. The line was crackly, it reminded me of those cross country calls. When I didn't hear anything, I spoke again. "Hallo? Ist irgendjemand dort?" On the other end, I hear a muffled cry, and all of a sudden the line went dead. Confused, I looked to see that, whoever had called, had hung up. Shrugging, I closed my phone and put it in my pocket. I turn the heat on the stove, and not even a minute afterwards my phone rings again. Irritated, I pull it out again, only to see that it was the same number. I answer. "Hallo?" I say, trying to keep my voice even.

"Oh, uh, umm. . ." Once again, the line went dead, and whoever just called hung up. I pursed my lips in irritation. The voice was female, probably some fan girl who, once again, got a hold of my number some how. I sighed, and I looked at my phone in regret. i_Just as I was starting to like this phone, too. . ./i_ I thought to myself. I was about to send the band and Jost a text message letting them know this when, once again, my phone rang.

Same number.

Angrily, I opened my phone. "Was?" I said, a little too loudly. The voice on the other end squeaked, and I heard a crash.

"Oh, um, es tut mir leid, dass!" she stammered, and another crash erupted from the other side.

"Wer ist. . . hallo? Hallo!" I ask, but once again, the line when dead. I let out a irritated growl. I memorized the number, and just when I started dialing it, I got yet again another call from her. I connected the line.

"Was ist das?" I said angrily, and I heard another surprised cry from the other end. I heard her begin to stutter, but before she could hang up I interrupted her. "Nicht Sie wagen einzuhägen, wer ist das?" I ask slowly, irritation oozing from every pore of my body. I heard her stammer again, and once again, the line went dead. I let out a frustrated cry, but before I could even dial the number my phone rang again. "WAS?" I shouted, and I heard her take a deep breath in.

"DEISE IST NORA!" I heard her shout, and once again, the line went dead. I felt my jaw drop, probably to the floor, and I stared in shock at the wall in front of me. i_Wait, Nora Nora? Like, the Nora in Massachusettes Nora? Wait, you don't know any other Nora!/i_ I think frantically. I hear my phone go off again, and it takes me a moment before looking at the number. I feel myself blush when I see that it was Nora. I slowly answer my phone.

"Nora?" I say, my voice coming out much higher than I had intended to. I heard her gasp, and another crash came from the other line. "Don't hang up!" I cried out, and I could imagine her face right now. I heard my pot whistle, and I turned off the stove. I pulled out a chair, and I slowly sat down. An awkward silence filled the line.

"I'm really sorry!" she said fast, and I laughed.

"You're fine. . . just try not to do it again." I said, and I could hear her laugh nervously. She sounded tired, and I myself felt weary from the excitement of all this.

"So, how are you?" I asked, and I heard her smile. Once she began talking I could feel myself smile. Everything I knew about her seemed to make sense.

For the first time in awhile, things felt right.

~3~

Despite the expensive minutes, we talked well into the night, until it was time for her to go to school. When I hung up the phone, I saw that my battery was blinking. Respectively, my stomach growled. It was now I realized that I still haven't eaten, and it was 12:00 in the morning. Sighing, I couldn't tell if I was irritated that I hadn't eaten or not. Undecided, I pulled out sandwich making materials and made myself a roast beef sandwich. After eating, I brushed my teeth, and I groggily crawled into bed.

Today, Nora was coming to Germany. In 2 more days, I would finally be able to see her. I seriously could not wait.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Fifth Embarrassment, END

Hey guys!

So, I don't really have much to say nor much time to say much, except for thanks for reading and keep an eye out for chapters of _You're Sacred, So You Save Me_ and of _A Single Facade: Missing You_ later today!

A shout out to Dead, just because she's awesome, and a shout out to Ms. Maril, for good luck on her trip and to get back to cleaning/getting ready! ;D

Love you all!

Lot's of Love and Many Creative Moments from MAW.

3


	7. Chapter 6

Sixth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

Excitement bubbles eagerly inside of me as I hand my plane ticket to the attendant, and I follow Diane, Brian and May through a fit of random giggles. I shifted my carry-on bag on my shoulder as I hurried down the terminal towards the plane, giggles erupting from my smiling lips. I see Diane's blonde hair bounce wildly as she skips down the hall, turning back to face me.

"Come on, Nora!" she giggles, and I smile even more wildly.

"I'm coming! W-Wait up!" I squeak, and she rolls her eyes at me.

Diane was everything that I wasn't. She had this loud voice that could get anyone's attention, and this personality that was larger than life, and she had almost flawless balance. We liked the same music, and she even expressed to me that she too, liked Tokio Hotel. She even told me the names of the band members, and pointed them out to me on my iPod. While I had this weird attraction to the apparent drummer of the band, she had an even weirder attraction to the bassist. Or the guitarist. I can't remember. Which is weird, because they look nothing alike whatsoever.

I glance behind me to make sure that Brian and May were with us as well. Our group was small, mostly because Diane had a hard time getting the news out, so it was just us four. Which I didn't really mind. It made it hard for someone to be a third wheel, aka me. When I was sure that they were still with us, I carefully trotted up to Diane, who was already in the airplane. I showed the flight attendant my ticket, and she nodded at me, directing me towards my seat. It wasn't very far, because we were able to get first class seating, something that wasn't new to me in comparison to the rest of the crew. While they marveled at the leather seats, I got myself comfortable, laughing at my trip mates.

I guess that this would be a good time to explain what everyone looks like. Diane has this long, silky blonde hair that falls to around her upper back, but past her shoulders. She had blue eyes, and was what I guess you could consider normal sized. She was neither skinny nor fat, and she was really tall. Like, 5 foot 8 inches tall. Yeah, she's a giant.

Brian was... interesting. He is a senior, and even though his grades don't really show it he is easily one of the smartest people I know. He was kind of scruffy looking; he had a small beard that just covered his jaw, but didn't hang off of his face, and he shaved his head. I had to admit, it looked good on him, but it definitely shocked me at first. I felt kind of bad for him, since he was the only guy on this trip, but I don't really think he minded. He was also a giant, around 6 feet tall.

May was the only girl who was even close to my height. Standing at a height of 5 foot 4 inches, her short brown hair framed her slightly pudgy face, and her brown eyes were huge. Her presence could light up any room, and she had a little of Diane's personality, meaning that she is easily able to get her opinions heard. She was the only person that I had met before this trip, even though it was briefly. My mind is failing to let me remember currently.

Anyway. Enough of this.

Diane and I began to talk excitedly about our trip, talking about what we were planning on doing and such. She was going to be doing a lot of shopping apparently, along with attempting to pick up several German male hookers... I'm still unable to tell if she is being serious about that last part.

"By the way, dearest Nora," Diane said, an hour and a half into the flight. "What i_are/i_ you going to be doing in zee wonderful country?" She asked, and I smiled. She opened up her bottle of water. I began to twiddle with my fingers.

"Well, I'm meeting up with a good friend," I said quietly, and I smiled at the thought. Diane smiled at me, and I could see her debating on whether she wanted to embarrass me further or not. In the end, she decided not to, and we settled into playing a game of cards.

I yawned as I climbed off the planes terminal, trying to keep myself awake. It wasn't long after I turned my phone back on did it start ringing. I didn't have a chance to see who it was, I just answered it.

"Hello?" I asked sleepily, yawning again.

"Nora? Hi there, honey." I smiled as I heard the loving voice of my mother float into my brain, and I wished that I could see her now. Even though I was excited to be here in Germany, I hadn't seen my family in a couple months, since August. I heard the sleepy whimpers from one of my younger siblings.

"Mom?" I say, and I hear her laugh. "Mom, are you guys still up?" I ask, surprised. I look at my watch: It was nearly 11:30 PM back in sunny California.

"Of course, sweetie! It was impossible for me to fall asleep without knowing if you were safe or not... at least, safe on the ground... I mean, what if your plane had crashed and I had been asleep..."

"Mom..." I start, but she keeps going.

"...I mean, I never would have been able to forgive myself!" I smile to myself as I imagine my mothers flushed face, the sign of worry for her.

"Mom, I'm safe, I have friends with me," I assure her. Suddenly, I hear shuffling, and after a moment I hear a new voice reach my ear.

"Nora-badora?" I hear my sister say sleepily. On the other end, I can hear her yawn, and I feel my heart melt for her. Oh, how I missed my baby sister!

"Anna-banana, what are you doing up?" I ask sternly, and I hear another yawn escape my 10-year-old sister.

"I wanted to say hello," she mumbled, and I hear my father say something to her. "Goodnight, Nora..." I laughed as I heard more shuffling, and this time it was my father on the other end of the phone.

"Hey there baby," he says, and I smiled broadly. Don't get me wrong, I love everyone in my family. But you know how there is just that one person who is always closer to you than the rest? An aunt, uncle, sister, brother? Well, for me it's my dad. He is the one that made me want to be a nurse, or at least go to medical school. He was always there for me when everyone wasn't, and he was always patient with me in regards to my clumsiness. With his face hanging in front of me like a painting, I wished that I could see him even more than before.

"Hey there, daddy," I whispered, and I heard him smile.

"How was the plane ride? Did you just wake up? Don't trip over anything..." he warns me, and I laugh.

"Dad, relax. I'm fine. Like I told mom, I have friends here with me," I say, and he laughs.

"Of course, of course." I hear a yawn escape him, and I smile at their silliness.

"Hey, daddy, you guys go to bed. You all must be tired. I'll call you later today, okay?" I say, and he sighs.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry Nora..."

"Dad, you have nothing to apologize for! I'm just glad that you guys called, that means a bunch to me," I say, and I can hear him smile.

"Anytime, sweetie. You get some rest now, you hear?" He reminds me, and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah yeah yeah. I know. Drink water..."

"And of course..."

"Breathe" we both finish for each other. We laugh slightly, both followed by large yawns.

"Anyway, goodnight, daddy. Give mom and Anna a big hug for me," I say, and he agrees. We say goodbye, and I hang up the phone.

"Was that your 'rents?" I hear Diane ask, and I nod.

"Yeah. And my baby sister... she's 10." I say, and I see Diane smile fondly.

"Awww, that's so sweet of them," Diane says, and I laugh.

"Yeah, it is. They are always such worry worts, sometimes I wish they would stay out of my hair, but yet again I know that if I was them, I would be worrying about me, too," I say, and together the both of us laugh.

Our hotel was... decent, surprisingly.

As it turns out, Diane and I would be sharing a room, and Brian and May would be sharing their own down the hall. Brian and May were dating, so we weren't really worried about it being awkward for them... at least, not way to awkward. As Diane and I throw our bags on the ground, I begin to crawl underneath my bed covers. I was wearing my sweatpants, which is what I would normally sleep in anyway, so I didn't bother changing out of them. I slipped off my bra, placed my glasses on the bedside table, and laid down. Immediately the pillows and the blankets surrounded me in a comfort that could only be found inside a bed, and I breathed in the new and unfamiliar scent.

"Goodnight, Diane," I mutter, and I hear her grunt the same.

Then, I closed my eyes, and went to sleep.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Sixth Embarrassment, END

Hey guys!

So, I'm sorry that I took a bit to get this out... and that it's kind of a short and sucky chapter... Dx Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and keep an eyes out for the next chapter... it's the one that we've all been waiting for... yes, Nora and Gustav FINALLY meet in chapter 7! So keep an eye out, I'll be sure to get it out ASAFP!

Love you all, and once again it is SO good to be back again!

Lot's of Love and Many Creative Moments from MAW!


	8. Chapter 7

Seventh Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

I carefully tie my shoes again for the 4th time. The first time was too loose, the second time was just plain old sloppy, and the third time... well, it just didn't look right. Don't ask me how tying your shoes can not look right, but it just didn't, okay!

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm nervous as all hell. Today was the day that I was i_finally_/i meeting Nora, and everything had to go just right. I don't know why, but it just had too. Tying my shoes for the 4th time, I finally deemed them perfect... not that they seemed to look any different from the last time.

I stand up after tying my shoes, and I swing my arms, a habit I formed when I become nervous. I jump a few times, to get my blood moving for no real apparent reason. Then, I grab my favorite beanie, the scarf that my mother gave me, and after making sure that I had my car keys still, walked out the door. I locked the door to my apartment, and I unlocked the door to my gorgeous car.

It was an Audi. A big Audi. Even Tom and Bill were a jealous of it, even if they didn't want to admit it. I patted the hood of it, my hand sliding across it's cool metal as I came up to the drivers side. I opened the door and climbed in, my hand stroking the steering wheel as I slid the keys into the ignition. Once my car revved up, I began backing out, and started heading towards the library fountain.

Nora and I were meeting halfway, despite my pleading to just pick her up. When she said that we were either meeting halfway or not meeting at all however, I couldn't argue with that. So, I chose one of the largest meeting places that was one of the hardest to miss, which was the fountain by the library. Even better, the city bus drove right by it, so unless she was blind, there was no way that she could possibly get lost... that is, unless she gets on the wrong bus. I immediately pushed that thought from my mind however, I didn't need to be fretting over that. Nora may be clumsy and she may get lost easily, but from my knowledge she's never gotten on the wrong bus.

Yet again, this i_is_/i in a new city...

i_No. Come on, Gustav. She is fluent in German. She will be fine_/i I reminded myself, and I shifted nervously in my seat as I sped down the highway. I felt myself push harder on the gas pedal, and my speedometer jumped higher, an attempt to get me there as fast as possible.

It didn't help my nerves that there was traffic. Cursing, I wished that we were in the states, where I could pass people on the right. But no. Germany had to make that illegal. As I tried my best to legally hurry through the traffic, I finally got off on the exit I needed. I glanced down at my clock, and to my horror I found that I was running late.

"Shit! Come on," I growled, and I hurried through the streets. Finally, at 5 minutes past our meeting time, I rushed into the parking lot, ripping my keys from the ignition. Pulling my scarf up closer to my face, I ran over what Nora said she would be wearing.

Black boots with black pants. She said that her jacket was long and plaid, but she said that she would be wearing a red hat. And of course there were her glasses. Not many people had such extreme glasses like herself. Figuring that the red hat would be the most important, I began scanning the crowd for that familiar color.

I scanned and scanned. But, to my horror, I found that I didn't see any red. I felt my hopes begin to plummet, and I desperately begin to scan again. i_Oh Nora, come on, please be here..._/i I begged to her in my mind. I decided to walk around when I ran into someone.

"Excuse me," I grunted at the person. She staggered back a bit, and I noticed that she was wearing a red hat atop her deep brown hair. She looked up at me, and a pair of deep blue eyes looked up at me behind a pair of ultimate nerd glasses. I felt my heart stop for a moment, the butterflies in my stomach settling. Her eyes widened in shock, and her face flushed to a bright red. She looked like a deer who had been caught in the headlights, seriously. I'm not sugar coating it when I say she looked like she was going to bolt at any second. I saw her open her mouth, but only incoherent stammering escaped her lips. I managed to catch her whimper "_Oh God oh God..._", and I saw her turn away. I felt panic rise inside me, and I made a desperate grab for her.

"Nora?" I called, and I heard a surprised squeak escape her. She turned back to me, her face an even deeper shade of red. Her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head. She opened and closed her mouth like she was going to say something, but her voice was still missing. Excitement fluttered in me, and I smiled.

"I knew it! It is you!" I exclaimed. Without thinking, I threw my arms around her thin frame. I heard her squeak in surprise, and I couldn't hep but laugh. Her hair tickled my nose, and I breathed in her scent. A mixture between sweet vanilla and a floral scent filled my senses, and I felt comfortable with this smell around me. Regrettably, I pulled back, letting go of Nora completely. She still looked shocked, but she didn't look like she was going to bolt anymore. I looked at her in confusion. "Are you okay?" I asked her, and I could tell that it took a moment for my question to register.

"Oh, uh, umm..." she stammered, her face flushing a little more. "I'm fine, I just... I think... um..." I saw her roll back and forth on the balls of her feet, and I began to feel nervous. "I, uh... I recognize you..." she muttered, and I tilted my head to the side in confusion. Blushing even more, I watched as she rummaged through her jacket pocket where she pulled out an electric blue iPod. She turned it on, and showed the screen to me.

There, the album cover to our English album, i_Scream_/i, floated on the screen. I smiled, and a laugh escaped me.

"Yeah! That's my band!" I said happily. Her eyes widened in amazement, and I saw her sway a little bit.

"Holy... shit.." she murmured. She held her hand up to her head, closing her shocked eyes. "I think... I'm gonna... faint..."

When her legs gave out and her body fell into my arms, I felt as though I had caught myself a Cinderella. That is, a very shy, very cute, very nerdy, Cinderella.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Seventh Embarrassment, END


	9. Chapter 8

Eighth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

I feel myself slowly float to consciousness, and I couldn't help but notice that I was laying down. I stretch, and as I wiggle my toes, I feel my shoes. i_Why are my shoes on in bed?_/i I wonder and I breathe in deeply. I lift my arms up over my head, and I feel the fabric of my jacket brush up against my neck. It's then I notice that I still have my hat on. i_What the.. why am I still dre.../i_

It's then I realize, to my horror, that I am not in bed at the hotel. Diane is not next to me, snoring. In fact, there is no one next to me snoring, or anyone next to me at all. My eyes snap open, and I'm greeted with a unfamiliar ceiling. I shoot up, and I look wildly around.

I'm in a bedroom, and I see a picture of Tokio Hotel on the wall, along with several awards for their albums. Slowly, everything begins to fall into place.

i_Oh. Shit. No way. I'm in... I'm in... Gustav's house.. and I'm in Gustav's bedroom... in his bed.../i_ I feel my face heat up dramatically, and I hurriedly stand up. That was a mistake, however, because immediately my knees crumble beneath me from the overwhelming shock of where I am. A small squeak escapes me, and I try to calm my pounding heart. I hear footsteps hurry over towards the room, and I look up in horror as the door opens.

There, the man from my dreams steps through the door.

Gustav was breathtaking. He was kind of short, which is something I had heard from Diane. He had really short blonde hair, much different from the cover of the i_Scream_/i album. I could tell that he had matured a lot since then, too, though I can't really explain how. He had these cute mouth that seemed to always hide an amused smile. His eyes were a dark hazel but they seemed to light up his entire face. He had some pudge, but it only seemed to add on to him, not take away.

When Gustav saw me sitting on the floor, he smiled, a small sigh escaping him. "You are just like I imaged you would be," he said, and I felt myself blush more. I reached up to push up my glasses, but to my shock I didn't feel them. I looked around for them, only to find that they were floating out in front of me. I looked up at Gustav, who was handing my thick nerd glasses to me. "Here. I didn't want them to break or anything... I cleaned them too, they had a bunch of smudges on them," he says, and I blush more.

"Oh, um, t-thank you. I'm s-sorry t-that you needed to t-to clean them.." I stammer, and Gustav laughs lightly.

"You don't have to be so nervous! I'm not going to do anything weird or creepy," he says, and I bush even more.

"I-I know! I just feel horrible to have... fainted.." I manage, and I look down shamefully. "I'm not usually that bad. I was just shocked that your in Tokio Hotel... of all bands..." I feel the floor vibrate, and I peek to see that Gustav had sat down on the floor with me, his legs bent up. He leaned his back against the wall, his head turned towards me. I began to twiddle with my thumbs. "So... um... where are we, exactly?" I asked, and he smiled.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that. We are at my house, which is outside Maudenburg," He said. it was only now did I realize that he was speaking in English.

"Do you want to speak in German" I asked him, and he looked at me surprised. "Would it be easier?"

"Actually, yeah, it would, thank you," he said, this time in German, giving me a grateful smile. I laughed at him, and it felt good to hear his German. It felt much more natural and more like him. We sat there in a awkward silence for a moment.

"So... a nurse, huh?" he asked, and I looked up at him curiously. "Ever wonder if maybe that wasn't such a good idea..?" he teased, and I blushed.

"Oh stop. When I'm actually concentrating on something like needles or whatever, I'm actually not that bad... it's weird. It's like my clumsiness gets turned off for a moment." I say, and he raises his eyebrows.

"Uh huh. Okay... I still wouldn't want you as my nurse..." he says, and I could hear the tease in his voice. I smile at him, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, shut up."

"Yeah yea yeah." He glances at me from the corner of his eyes, a sly smile on his lips. I soon found myself smiling too, for an unexpected reason. Suddenly, Gustav stands up, and he hold his hand out to me. "Come on. Since we're here, let me show you around my apartment," he offers. I shyly take his hand, and his strong fingers wrap around my calloused ones. He pulls me up, and when his hand let's go of mine, my fingers suddenly felt cold and sad. I shoved my hand in my pocket. "Sorry for the weird plastic smell. The owners re-carpeted the place and I can't get rid of the smell," he says, and I shrug.

"I didn't even notice it." He looks at me, confused.

"You can't smell that?" he asks, and I shake my head. "Huh. Your nose must be broken. Anyway, come on." I stare at him shocked. How dare he say my nose is broken! My nose is fine, thank you very much. Absolutely nothing wrong with my nose... it must be his nose that's whacked up. Shrugging the comment off, I follow him towards the end of the hallway. "So, here is the bathroom," he says, opening the door. Blue walls with a white counter top greets me, though other than this is was plain. He points to the door next to it. "That's the guest bedroom, but there's no bed in there. Right now I have my drums and such in there, it's where I practice." He leads me down the hallway, and I look at the pictures that were hanging on the wall. They were pictures of family and friends, mostly of the band members.

At the end of the hallway, it opened up into a large room. On my left there was a living room of sorts, complete with a couch and recliner with a coffee table. On my right, there was a kitchen, and a bar with stools made for the dining area. Though from the looks of it, the coffee table and couch were used more as the dining area than the actual dining area itself. "Yeah, it's small, but it's just me, so I like it," he says, and I smile.

"It reminds me a lot of my apartment," I say absently, and he looks at me curiously.

"Really? Thats kind of cool," he says, and I nod my head. We stand there for a moment, neither of us not really quite sure of what to say or do. Finally, Gustav cleared his throat.

"So, um," he started, and I looked up at him. "Would you like to sit down? You hungry, you want anything to drink?" he offers, and I smile.

"Water," I say. "Would be fantastic."

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Eighth Embarrassment, END

Hey yall!

Soooooooo, yeah... I know, kind of a weird ending, but their visit will be continued in Gustav's POV, so no worries, my pretties...

Again, thank Dead for getting my ass in gear and writing so fast again...

ALSO! MAW'S got some new for all ya. ;D

Starting at some point(hopefully by the end of the week...), a href=".com/profile/Freiheit89?xg_source=profiles_memberList"Queenie/a and I will be starting a new FF, called iForever After/i... I will post a blurb/blog about it soon... xD So yeah, below is the banner for it(LOOK! I PHOTOSHOPPED BILL! FREE HUGS TO WHOEVER CAN TELL ME WHAT'S MISSING!), so yes, until that starts posting, enjoy this little tid-bit here... 3

Lot's of Love and Many Creative Moments from MAW!

3


	10. Chapter 9

Ninth Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

Nora was awesome. No other words to really describe it.

She was a lot more shy in person, but after a little bit she started to open up a little more to me. Her hunched up posture started to straighten out, and she began to get better at making eye-contact with me. But, throughout the entire time we talked(or should I say, I talked. She didn't really say much...) her face was flushed. BUt, she always had this small smile on her face.

After some time, we decided to leave my smelly apartment and go for a walk. After all, she i_was_/i a visitor here in Germany. Might as well show her around. We grabbed our coats and such, and once I had locked up I followed her outside.

"So," I started, and she looked up at me. "Why German?" I asked her, and she smiled.

"Well, you see," she started, but yelped as her foot caught on one of the ruts in the sidewalk. I saw her body begin to fall, and I caught her arm. I pulled her back up to safety, and I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Careful," I breathed, and she gave a small laugh.

"S-sorry," she stammered, and I smiled. "Anyway, um, German.. My dad is German, and we used to have relatives here somewhere. So when it was time for me to learn a language at school I thought it would be cool to do German because my dad spoke it... so yeah, he helped me, and so on." I saw her smile softly at the thought of her dad, and I couldn't help but smile with her.

"That would explain why your almost fluent, you had an inside influence," I commented, and she nodded.

"Yeah. It was something that brought us closer together, you know? My little sister is learning it too, and my mom knows little bits and parts... enough to get around, you know?"

"How old is your sister?" I ask, and she smiles again.

"The youngest is 10... the middle is 15, and then there's me... I'm 20." I said, and I nodded.

"Thats cool. I have a younger sister, too. She's 18," I tell her, and she smiles.

"That makes sense," she says, and I looked at her confused.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask, and she shrugs.

"You just seem like the older brother type." I pondered this, still confused.

"And what does that look like?" I asked her.

"Umm, I'm not really sure. Protective, I guess, but other than that... I don't really know," she says, and I could tell that I had confused her as well. She turned her head down to the ground, to look out for more ruts on the ground as we walked. I kicked the rock that was in front of me, and it rolled, bouncing off into a puddle on the side.

We walked in silence for awhile, and I surprisingly found it comfortable. I thought about all the things that we could do during her visit, all the things that we could visit. I wondered if I should introduce her to the band, and I contemplated not doing that: who knows if I would ever hear the end of it from the twins. My mind was pretty much made up, though, when I rounded the corner and met the mischievous brown eyes of Bill and Tom Kaulitz. I groaned as they waved me down, jogging over to where we were.

"Gustav, what are you doing out of your hermit hole?" Bill calls out, and I feel the urge to punch the stupidity out of him, if that was possible. Bill shifts his gaze to Nora beside me, and he smiles. "Hey! You must be Nora!" he shouts, and I feel dread begin to knot itself in my stomach. i_Oh no, come on.../i_ I beg Bill, though I doubt he heard my desperate calls.

"Hey there, Bill," I mutter, and I glance at Nora. She seemed to be in shock again. I was praying that she wasn't going to faint on my again. I touch her arm, to let her know that I'm here, and she looks up at me with those huge baby deer eyes.

"Is that..." she starts, and I nod my head.

"Yeah, thats Bill. The lead singer. The guy next to him is Tom... you spoke to him once online, remember?" I ask, and she nods. Then, she smiles.

"So, these are you band members?" she asks me, and I nod my head, a little surprised. No fainting? No stuttering or running away in a frenzied panic? By now, Bill has reached Nora and I.

"Hey there, you must be Nora," he says again, and she blushes. i_There we go.../i_ I think to myself, happy that I wasn't the only one she reacted to. "My name is Bill, and this i my brother Tom," he said, holding his hand out to her. She gingerly took it, nodding her head in a cute daze.

"H-Hi, my n-name is Nora," she stutters, and I hold back my laughter. "It's very nice to meet you." By now, Tom had joined his brother, and he gives a genuine Tom smile at Nora. I give him a warning glare, but I doubt that he saw it.

"Hey there cutie," he says, and I hear Nora squeak. I glare at Tom, who is laughing at Nora's beet red face. I wrap my arm around Nora's shoulders, and I pull her back the way we came.

"See you later, Tom," I growl, and he snickers at me. I can hear Bill laughing with his brother, and I do my bet to keep my cool. i_Come on, Gustav. It's just Tom. He does that to everyone... but this is different. She's not anyone, she's Nora. He should know that by now./i_ I continue to grumble to myself, and I hadn't noticed that I still had my arm around Nora's shoulders. Realizing this, I quickly withdrew. "Oh crap, I'm sorry Nora," I muttered, and I felt my face go red. What was I doing?1 I was messing everything up! She looks up at me, her blue eyes smiling.

"N-No, you were fine," she stammers again, and I feel my frustration and irritation towards Tom melt away. I smile at her, and she blushes again.

"Okay... well, I apologize for my band members rudeness. I'm sure we'll meet up with them again..." As if on cue, I felt my phone vibrate, and I reached into my pocket. I pursed my lips as I saw that it was a text from, yeah you guessed it, Tom.

i_Hey lover boy, you going to bring her back over? I wanna talk to her. ;)/i_ I closed my phone and put it back in my pocket, not bothering to reply to Tom. He could wait. I sigh.

"Well, let' head back to my apartment and get some lunch. We can figure out what we want to do then. Deal?" I asked her. With a bashful smile, she eagerly agreed. Trotting up next to me, her brown hair bounced all over the place, her red hat bouncing along with it. With her next to me, I felt lighter.

Lighter than I have in awhile.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Ninth Embarrassment, END

Hey guys!

SO yeah, I'm super super sorry for the wait on this! I know, I'm a butt, but forgive me... I've been working on banners and such...

Which leads me to say... I DO make banners, so if you guys want one for a fic(and I make profile headers. Go see my profile or go to a href=".com/profile/MsMaril2"Ms. Maril's/a profile. :) So yeah... just putting that up there! I work on a first-come-first-serve basis. :) so yeah, message me at to ask about a banner, or you can message me here. :)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter... next one coming out soon!


	11. Chapter 10

Tenth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

Gustav is such a sweet heart. Truly.

I feel like I haven't had a conversation with someone in awhile. I mean, I know I i_have/i_, but talking with Gusav just felt so meaningful and intense that all of my other conversations seemed to be similar to talking about the weather. He was smart, even though he didn't understand almost anything I said about medicine unless I put into "English" for him. But he had life smarts. He knew the best and fastest ways to make a sandwich and pasta, and just food in general. He knew the best combinations for a headache when you didn't have an Advil. He seemed to know all these things that I didn't know that it made me wonder what exactly I was learning in school, and if it was even going to hep me.

We talked in his apartment for awhile, with the warmth of the heater around us. We made food, and we laughed(yes, I laughed) about things that he's done on tour and his adventures.

"Hey Gustav," I say, and he looks at me expectantly. "Play the drums for me?" I ask, and he smiles.

"Of course, of course! Come on, I'll show you to them." He stands up, and I follow him towards the back of his apartment. He opens the door that was across the hallway from his room and steps inside.

All along the walls there were the dozens of awards that Tokio Hotel has won. Ones for all their albums, hell, i_several/i_ for all their albums it seemed. It reminded me just how amazing of a band Tokio Hotel is, and it felt unreal to me that I was with their drummer. I watch him as he goes to his drum set, which is in the middle of the room. He picks up his drumsticks, showing them to me.

"These are my girls," he says slyly, winking at me. I blush, even though I know he didn't mean it. I smile at his reference.

"Do they have names?" I ask him, and he nods. He holds up one of them.

"This, is Henrietta," he says, twirling the stick around in the air. He holds up the other one. "And this is Sharon." He smiles lovingly at them, and I laugh at his affection towards his drums.

"Does the band know of their names?" I ask, and he looks up at me.

"Well, of course not. They'd never let me hear the end of it. Plus, this is my special pair, they don't know of this pair. I don't take these on tour with me," he says, and I nod in understanding. I sit down on one of the chairs in the room and he sits at the seat of his drums. Situating himself, he places his foot on the bass pedal, and his sticks hover over the correct drums. Then, slowly he begins to play.

Drumming is different alone in comparison to guitar bass or piano. It's like the skeleton of any good song, it's what holds it together and gets the band through the story. Hearing Gustav drum away, I could imagine the different guitar and bass parts that could go with it, and I found that there were so many that could fit. After a few minutes, he stops suddenly, and he looks up at my confused face.

"Come here," he says, and I look at him in shock.

"What?" I say dumbly, and he laughs.

"Come here! Giver her a spin," he tells me. I watch in shock as he gets up from the seat, coming over to a very shocked me. Robotically, I stand up, and Gustav leads me to the drum set. And let me tell you, standing next to a drum set is very much different than looking at a drum set. Very.

I cautiously sit down at the seat, and Gustav gives me his girls. Holding one in each hand, I look up at him nervously.

"Has anyone besides you sat at these?" I ask, and he shakes his head.

"Nope. Just me. And now you," he says, and I gulp.

"Okay..." I say, turning back to the set. "What do I do?" I ask dumbly, and he laughs.

"Just hit them! Just experiment," he says, and I stare at the drums nervously. i_I've never been good at just experimenting..._/i I think to myself, but shrug off the thought. I was going to do this, darn it!

I lift my hands up, so that they were hovering over the drums. I lift them up a little higher, so that I could give them a good whack...

But, being good 'ol me, I lift them up to high to fast, and I smack myself on the forehead. I cry out in surprise, and I feel myself fall backwards. I shut my eyes tightly, preparing myself for the harsh impact with the ground. But, I never do receive that impact, because I feel strong arms wrap themselves around my shoulders. My breathe catches in my throat, and I feel Gustav's breathe tickle my neck. Butterflies erupt in my stomach so rapidly that I thought that I might throw up. I'm working on trying to get myself to breathe normally when I hear Gustav begin to laugh. He lifts me back up onto the seat of the drums, laughter still trickling from his lips.

"Oh Nora, what am I going to do with you? I can't believe you just hit yourself with Sharon..." I hear him try to catch his breath, and I couldn't help but smile. I had made Gustav laugh! "Oh my God, that's great... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," he apologizes, and I laugh at him.

"What, don't apologize! It's funny, I'm just a little stunned that I managed to smack myself..." I say in my own surprise. I begin to giggle a little bit with Gustav.

"Here, let me help," he offers. I feel his arms wrap around my body, and his strong calloused hands wrap around mine. Once again my breath catches, and I'm glad that he can't see my bright red face. He gently lifts up on of my arms, and he makes the drum stick hit the drum firmly. A solid i_thud_/i echoes in the room, soon followed by another from my other hand. "Hit the bass drum every 1 and 3, okay?" he says, and I nod. "1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4..." I follow his orders, and soon a strong melody of sorts rings throughout the apartment. I begin to recognize the beat.

"This.. this is _iMonsoon_/i isn't it?" I ask, and he smiles.

"Close. This is iStrange/i, a song we are doing for the i_Alice in Wonderland_/i CD. The beats are pretty similar though," he says, and I nod my head.

"Wait, Tim Burton's?" I ask, and I feel him nod. "No way," I say, surprised.

"Yes way. Bill's already written the words for it, but he's working on finding somebody to collaborate with on the song. I've started working on drum beats and such." I nodded my head, understanding.

Suddenly, from our left, a harsh i_bang!/i_ comes from the wall, and Gustav groans. He stops directing my hands, and he grabs two drumsticks from a nearby chair.

"Stupid neighbors..." I hear him mutter, and he walks over to the wall. Then, he begins banging the sticks against the wall, and hold back my snickering as he stand back, pleased. "There, that outta make them shu..." he starts, but he is interrupted by another loud protest from his neighbor. His purses his lip, and turns back to the wall. This time, instead of beating the poor wall with both, he takes the end of the stick and smacks it against the plaster. "Shut up, stupid people..." he mutters. He hits the wall one more time, but this time the stick crashes through the drywall, all the way through to the other side. To his neighbors side.

"What the fuck?" I hear his neighbor shout, and my jaw drops. "You bastard..!" I hear him hit something, and Gustavjerks his drumsticks back.

"Shit!" he cries, and I start laughing. He drags me up from the drum chair, and before we know it we are running to his car, his neighbor coming after us with a baseball bat. We drive away just in time.

Gustav eventually had to pull over at the side of the road, we were laughing so hard. I had tears coming out of my eyes, and his face was a bright red.

"I can't believe you punched a hole in the wall..." I breathe, and he nods his head.

"Yeah.. me too... Shit, I'm gonna have to pay for that..." he laughs, and I laugh in agreement. "God, he's so pissed!" Gustav says, referring to his neighbor. We keep laughing.

At some point in another, Gustav starts driving again, though this time to take me home. It was 8:00 in the evening, and I had been there all day. Regrettably, it was time for me to go home. When we reached my hotel, I hopped out, waving at Gustav. I watched him drive away, and I made sure he was out of sight before I walked into the hotel. I reached Diane and I's room, and I reached up to grab my hat, but I only managed to grab hair. Panicked, I realized that I must've left it at Gustav's. Sighing in relief, I knew that I would get it back. I liked that hat, thank you very much. It was one of those ones that you could put all of your hair into, and it kind of looked like it was the back of an octopus. My grandmother had knitted it for me, and I loved it to death. The few patches that it had proved this.

I placed my jacket on the couch and my hotel room key on the table next to it. I see Diane on the bed.

"Well, look who is finally home," she comments, and I smile. She outs her magazine down, and looks at me expectantly.

"What?" I ask, when her expectant gaze doesn't waver. She rolls her eyes.

"What? Come on, you can't just disappear with a guy all day and not expect me to ask you what went down!" she exclaims, and I roll my eyes at her.

"Nothing went 'down'. We just hung out, got to know each other." I say, and she raises an eyebrow at me.

"'Got to know each other'? And what exactly does this consist of..?" She asks me, and I blush.

"Uh... hanging out? Talking?" I say, and she rolls her eyes at me again. "What! This is the first time we've met face-to-face!" I exclaim. This gets her attention, and I regret saying that.

"First time seeing each other? What were you doing before?" she asks, and I blush.

"Uh..." I start, and she gasps.

"Nora! Are you secretly a porn star?" she exclaims, and I just about fall down. I turn a deep red, I'm sure you could just about fry a egg on my face.

"No! God no! No, we both play World of Warcraft..." I mutter, and she squints.

"World of Warcraft? Really? Nora." she says, and I sigh. "World of Warcraft? Thats like, the ultimate nerd game. Do you seriously have no life?" I send a fail glare at her.

"Of course I have a life..." I grumble, and she laughs at me.

"You are too funny, Nora. Come on, lets go get something to eat, I'm fucking starving!" She exclaims, and I roll my eyes. Of course she would. Diane had a never ending appetite it seemed.

We went out around the area, finding a local pub. I got a lentil soup and she got a brautworst, while shamelessly flirting with our waiter. But, with her pint of beer, I think she kept thinking he was a German stripper, 'cause she kept trying to stick dollar bills in his belt loop. Either way, he played along, and when we left gave her a big fat kiss. The rest of the time we spent walking around. I looked up at the night sky.

It was a starry night. It made me feel like I could look up into forever.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Tenth Embarrassment, END


	12. Chapter 11

Eleventh Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

The first thing I notice is her red hat on my couch cushion.

After having a rather heated conversation with my neighbor about the hole in our wall I went back inside my apartment. We finally came to the agreement that we would each pay for half. After all, he i_did_/i start the argument. And the first thing I noticed when I opened my door was her well loved red wool hat.

It sat on the couch, just where she was just a short hour ago. Breathing in deeply, I found that the new carpet smell was disappearing. I walked over to the couch, picking up her hat. I lifted it up to my face, breathing in. The hat smelled like what I would assume her shampoo smelled like, which was vanilla with a hint of citrus. I couldn't help but feel that it was an interesting combination. I turn the hat around in my hands, and I see a tag on the inside. I look at it, and I see a message on it, embroidered on.

i_Nora-Badora. You will do great things. Don't ever change the beat of your heart! Love, Gram-ams._/i

I smiled at the message, remembering that her grandma had made this hat for her. I gently place it on the coffee table, and I go to make myself something to eat. Before long, I am thoroughly enjoying the leftover steak in my fridge. I wash my plate and put it on the drying rack, and shortly after I hear my phone ring. I dry my hands off before picking it up.

"Hello?" I answer, and I hear snickering. I purse my lips, irritation bubbling in my stomach. "What do you want, you brats?" I ask, and soon hooting erupts from the other line.

"Awww, Gusti, you are such a pooper!" I hear Bill complain through a veil of laughter. "I wonder how Nora can put up with you." I roll my eyes.

"What's you point?" I ask, irritated.

"You've got to loosen up, dude! I mean, look at Georg..." Bill points out. I wait for him to explain further. "Girls don't like guys who are stuck up," Bill points out, and I sigh.

"First of all, I'm not stuck up," I list, and I hear Bill sigh.

"The first part of getting the girl is admitting you have a problem..." Bill tells me.

"And secondly," I continue, ignoring Bill's little comment. "We are just friends, in case you haven't noticed." I say, and Bill sighs.

"Oh Gusti, that's what they _iall_/i say! Come on, just admit that you like her and..." I cut Bill's rant short by hanging up the phone. I could imagine all the crap I was going to get tomorrow about this, but at the moments I didn't really care. I smile at the thought. I couldn't wait to bother Bill about this too, for some reason.

Stretching, I stand up and get a bottle of beer from the fridge. For some reason I felt like celebrating. I walked over to my stereo and began to play whatever was in there. Turned out to be a Metalica CD, one of their older ones. Smiling, I felt myself place my beer at the bar in the dining room area, and I began air drumming. I had practiced so much with this song, I could play it from heart. This particular song was the first Metalica song I learned to play, actually. I felt myself get more into the song, and I felt myself begin to slip away from reality. All I could hear around me was the drums, their powerful and steady beat giving me security.

I don't know how long I played like that. By the time I had finished the CD though, it was 11 PM, and I felt exhausted. Turning off my CD player and lights, I made my way down the hallway to my room. I stripped off my clothes until I was in my trusty flannel pants and tank top. I climbed in under my heavy quilts, and before long I had fallen asleep.

Like I do every morning, I wake up at 8:30. I stretch my legs out, and I let out a large yawn before I climb out of bed. I lean down and touch my toes before walking into the kitchen. I start humming a song, and I open my fridge to get the carton of milk.

It wasn't there.

Annoyed, I search through my fridge, but I still couldn't find it. i_What the... I know I have some!/i_ I close the fridge with an irritated islam/i. I turn towards the living room, and I almost jump out of my skin.

"Jesus Christ!" I shout, and I lean on the bar counter as hooting comes from the living room. My heart beat returning to normal, I glare up at my band mates. "What the hell you guys?" I growl, and they burst out into more laughter. "And how the hell did you get into my apartment?" I ask, and Georg looks up at me, his face red.

"You gave us the key, remember?" he reminds me, and I roll my eyes. iI knew that was a horrible idea... why did I do that again..?/i I ask myself, mentally beating myself up.

"I knew I never should have given you guys a spare," I mutter, and they all burst out into laughter. I roll my eyes and turn back towards my fridge. "Where is my milk, anyway?" I asked them, and I hear them snicker. I turn to see a empty milk carton in the sink. "Of course.. you drank it all..." I mutter, and I sigh. I looked back in my fridge to find that I had nothing left to eat. Once again, I closed my fridge. Running my hand through my hair, I walked over to my living room. "Why are you guys here?" I asked them.

"Well, we wanted to see how your date with Nora went," Bill says excitedly. I groan.

"For the last time, it was i_not/i _a date. We were just hanging out, as friends!" I exclaim, sitting down on the couch. I crossed my arms over my chest and I see Bill and Tom roll their eyes in sync, it seemed. It was truly scary how alike those two were sometimes.

"Gustav, you are absolutely no fun whatsoever," Tom complained, and I couldn't help but smile at them.

"Yeah.. you sure it wasn't a date?" Bill asked again. My smile faded, and I sent a glare over at him. "Okay okay, I'll stop asking! Don't melt me with your evil gaze or anything, sheesh!" Bill huffs at me, but I ignore him.

"Don't you all have something better to do than bother me at home?" I ask them, and they all look at each other. They shake their heads.

"No, I don't think so..." Bill comments.

"Yeah, I don't think so either..." Tom says, following his brother.

"Yeah.. no. Nothing," Georg cuts in last, and I sigh. These guys were truly hopeless.

"Why don't we all go somewhere today?" Georg suggests. "We haven't really hung out as friends for awhile... I mean, besides on a bus, you know," he says, and we all take this into consideration. "We can make is a big group thing. I'll bring Heidi along, and you guys can tag along Andreas, and Gustav can bring Nora," he suggests. I glare at him.

"That," Bill says, clapping his hands together. "Is a marvelous idea. Let's go!" That classic Bill smile, otherwise known as the 'I-totally-have-a-great-idea-that-almost-probably-lead-to-someone's-misery' smile. Tom whoops in agreement, and Georg smiles.

"Awesome, it's settled then. Where should we go?" he asks, and I sigh.

"Let's go to the mall or something. If I'm bringing Nora, we might as well go somewhere kind of touristy," I suggest, and they all agree.

Once we had everything planned out, I kicked them all out, promising to meet them there. I unplugged my phone from the charger, and I dialed Nora's number.

"Hello?" I heard her answer, and the sound of her voice made me smile.

"Hey there, Nora," I say, and I hear her smile.

"Hey Gusti... you have my hat right," she asks, and I smile.

"Yeah, I have it. It's on my couch," I say, and I hear her breathe a sigh of relief.

"Great, I'm glad... I really like that hat!" She says, and she gives a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, I know." We sat there in silence for a bit before I brought up the meet-up with everyone else. "Hey, so Georg had this idea of getting together at the mall, and they want you to come along," I say somewhat nervously. If you want, you can bring your friends along, the more the merrier," I say into the phone.

"Yes! Nora, we are going! Can I come Nora, please please please? I want to meet this boy toy of yours!" I hear an energetic voice from the other end of the line. "PLEASE?" I hear Nora squeak, and she says something in English that I couldn't quite catch. I hear some rustling, and then her voice comes back on the line.

"Sure... you said I could bring someone right?" she asks sheepishly, and I let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, bring your friend along... I have a feeling she won't let you leave her behind," I say, and she laughs a little.

"So yeah, I can meet you guys there..."

"Oh no worries, I'll pick you up," I say, and I hear her friend whoop in approval.

"YES! No more stinky bus!"

"Diane, shut i_up/i_!" I hear Nora say in English, and I keep my snickering to myself.

"It's okay, we can take the bus..."

"Noooooooooo, not the bus," I hear Diane whine, and Nora sighs.

"Really, it's not that big of a deal," I tell her, and I can imagine her pursing her lips, a blush on her face.

"Well.. umm.. okay..." she finally says. I couldn't help but smile.

"Great! I'll be there in a couple hours, that okay?" I ask. I imagine her nodding her head.

"Sure, thats perfect," she finally said. I felt giddiness flutter in my stomach.

"Great, I'll see you then?" I ask.

"Absolutely, see you then."

I hang up the phone, and I immediately run to the bathroom. I mean, a guy has to look presentable, right? Even if he is just hanging out with friends.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Eleventh Embarrassment, END


	13. Chapter 12

Twelfth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

So, I'm not gonna lie, I'm super excited to seeing Gustav again. And to get my hat back. But mostly Gustav.

Diane was beside herself. Last night I had finally told her about Gustav, and that he was in Tokio Hotel. She almost woke up the entire hotel with her screeching, telling me that she couldn't believe that I hadn't told her earlier. Needless to say, she didn't believe me when I told her that it never crossed my mind to tell her.

It was a little warmer today, so I didn't wear my heavy duty jacket like I did yesterday. In fact I was able to get away with a black long sleeved shirt with white sleeves and jeans. I wrapped my scarf around my neck and pulled my hair up into a loose ponytail. I pushed my glasses up on my nose; I needed to get them fixed, they kept slipping.

"Diane, are you almost ready?" I called out shyly. She groaned.

"You should have told him 3 hours! I'll never be ready!" She complains, and I roll my eyes.

"You'll be fine, Diane. We're just going to the mall," I remind her. She groans at me again.

"Nora, you really have no social life." Confused by what she meant, I decide not to push it further. When we had 10 minutes until Gustav was going to come, I reminded Diane, who surprisingly was almost ready. When there was only 5 minutes remaining, we hurried to outside of the hotel. I saw a familiar black Audi. I smiled, and I grabbed Diane's sleeve.

"There," I whispered, and she whistled.

"Damn, I forgot that rock-stars are loaded," she admired, and I smiled. I gave a small wave, and I see him wave back. I feel myself hurry over to the car, Diane easily keeping up. She reaches the car first, jerking the car door open.

"Thanks a bunch, dude!" she exclaims, hardly able to contain herself. I'm about to follow her, when she stops me. "Uh, no. You get in front with your boy toy," she whispers, and I blush a deep red.

"He's not my boy toy," I mutter, trying to get in. She refuses.

"Nora, you can get in front, I don't mind," I hear Gustav say. I sigh. i_Well, if it's okay..._/i Diane closes the dooron me, and I carefully open the passenger door. I step up to get in the car, and as I bring my other foot up it catches on something. I feel myself begin to fall, and I gasp. I stumble backwards, my face blushing even more. I hear Diane giggle inside the car, and I saw Gustav's worried face peer at me.

"Nora, you okay?" I heard him ask, and I nod my head sheepishly. I climb into the car, this time my head smacks into the top of the car.

"OUCH!" I cry, holding the top of my head. I grit my teeth together, holding back several 4 letter words.

"Nora!" I hear Diane squeak between laughter, and I open my teary eyes.

"Ouch..." I muter, rubbing my head. I look over at Gustav, who is trying to hold back his giggles. He glances over at Diane, and they burst out into laughter.

"Oh Nora," Diane says, wrapping her arms around the seat and I. "What are we going to do with you sweetie?" I couldn't help but laugh with them. After they made sure that I didn't do any major damage to myself, Gustav started the engine to the car, and we took off towards the mall.

Immediately after Diane determined safe from any sort of brain damage, she began drilling poor Gustav. I sank into my seat, hoping that Diane would stop drilling the poor guy.

"Are you sure your not some creeper or a pimp or something? 'Cause if you are I will totally whoop your ass," Diane says, and I see Gustav turn a deep shade of red.

"Diane..." I mutter, and she gives a dramatic sigh.

"Oh Nora. I am making sure that he is appropriate for you." I groan.

"That's what I'm afraid of..." I mutter to myself. Diane laughs at me, and she continues to drill Gustav. This time, however, it's with more normal questions. I breathed a sigh of relief.

We reach the mall a little late. We all get out of the car, and we head towards the mall entrance. There, I see Bill and Tom and amazingly, Georg. I feel Diane grab my arm.

"Oh my God, oh my fucking i_God_/i, Nora, that's Tom," she whispered, and I smiled.

"Don't pee yourself now," I whispered to her. I swear, I think she was vibrating she was that excited. I began to worry for Tom's safety. I see Tom hit his brother on the shoulder with the back of his hand, nudging his head towards us. Bill gets up from the bench he's sitting on, and he begins waving at us.

"You guys are late!" He whines, and I couldn't help but smile. I see Gustav roll his eyes. When we reach the group, I'm immediately enveloped in long arms. I squeak in surprise, and my body freezes.

"Good to see you, Nora!" Bill exclaims, but I'm stunned silent. "I didn't get a chance to hug you yesterday, Gustav whisked you away from us!" He pulls back, but I'm frozen, my face I'm sure a deep red. Tom smirks at his brother, and Bill laughs. "Don't faint on us now," Bill jokes, and I blink.

"O-oh, I-I'm sorry... Y-You ju-ju-just caught me, uh, umm..."

"Surprised?" Diane fills in for me, and I nod my head dumbly. "Come on Nora, use your big-girl words," Diane prompts, and I blush deeper again. I look over towards Gustav, who is glaring at Bill. I hear footsteps, and I squeak as I see Tom in front of me.

"Relax, I'm not going to hug you," he said, and I relax. He holds his hand out to me, and I shakily grasp it. Once I grasp it, I'm immediately pulled towards him, and I run into his firm chest. I yelp in surprise as his strong arms wrap around me. Again, I'm frozen in shock. "Just kidding! Sorry there, I had to give you hug, couldn't let my brother be the last one!" he laughs. He lets me go, and I shakily step back. "Wow, you're really red," he comments. I feel the tips of my ears turn hotter, and Gustav clears his throat.

"Is that really necessary?" he asks, and I could hear the tension in his voice. Georg clears his throat.

"Well, lets go in, shall we?" he suggests, and I nod my head. i_Yes, please, before I get hugged again..._/i I think as I shuffle inside. I feel Diane loop her arm in mine, and I smile shyly. Suddenly, Tom turns around towards us.

"By the way, I don't think I got your name," he says, looking at Diane. I hear her squeal silently, and she lets go of my arm.

"My name," she says coyly, and I roll my eyes at her. "Is Diane," she said, and I see Tom smile playfully at her. Grossed out, I walk past them, hurrying up next to Gustav. He sees me come up next to him, and he smiles.

"Sorry for my band mates rudeness," he says, and I shrug.

"It's okay. Just unexpected, thats all," I say, blushing. He turns back to looking straight ahead, and we fall into a small silence. I feel someone loop their arm around me again, and I look to see it was once again Diane.

"Let's go try on clothes," she whispers excitedly, and before I know it I'm being dragged away from Gustav's side towards a huge clothing store. I see Tom and Bill ahead of us, waving us down. Gustav turns to see me being dragged off, and he hurries over to us.

"Come on, Diane, this way," Bill hisses, and I look around wildly.

"Wait, what's going on?" I ask her, and she gives me a sly smile. I groan. Whenever Diane smiles like that, I've learned that she's never up to good. The first time she did it we ended up in a strip club with her stripping somehow(don't even ask), the second time we ended up playing bumper cars with real cars(or more of, she did and I watched from the sidelines), and the third time she smiled like that she ended up skinny dipping in the public fountain.

"Diane, please don't drag me into any of your schemes,"I beg, and she laughs. I get dragged into the woman's section, and I'm dragged into a dressing room. She gives me that smile again, and I look at her in horror.

"Too late," she says sweetly. Then, she dashes out of the room, closing the door behind her. "Don't you dare move from there!" she shouts, and before I know it, I'm left alone in the dressing room.

I had a very bad feeling about this.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twelfth Embarrassment, END


	14. Chapter 13

Thirteenth Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

I can only imagine how shocked Nora is. 'Cause let me say, I'm speechless.

No only did they steal my date to the mall, they kidnapped her and locked her in the locker room. And knowing Nora, she'll listen to whatever Diane said to her and she won't move. Irritation bubbles in me dangerously high, and I look around the clothing store trying to find them. I feel someone grab my shoulders, and I turn to see Georg.

"Geo-"

"Oh shut up. I've been told to herd you back this way," he said, and he leads me towards the woman's department. Utterly confused, Georg sits me down. He leans back in the chair, comfortable.

"Where is Heidi?" I ask him, and he smiles.

"She's out there with the twins and Diane. They have a surprise for you." I groaned.

"Why didn't you try to stop them?" I asked, irritated once again. He shrugs.

"Would it have done much of a difference?" He asked me, and I sigh.

"No, it wouldn't have," I replied sadly. I rub my temples, wondering how exactly I got Nora and I into this situation. After a moment, I herd footsteps, and I turn to see Tom, Bill, Diane and Heidi.

"Hey Heidi," I greet her, and she gives me a cute smile back. Heidi had long blonde hair, and was a bartender at a local bar here in Hamburg. Do I have to explain how Georg met her?

"Hey there, Gustav, you ready for this?" she asks, and I grimace.

"I'm not really sure," I say, and Diane laughs.

"Prepare yourself, your going to be shocked." I watch as Bill hands Diane a mound of clothes, adding on to her own pile. Giggling like the mad woman she is, she runs to the dressing room, opening the door I hoped Nora was in. I hear a surprised squeak as Diane enters. I feel the sofa we are sitting on shift, and I see Heidi sit down next to Georg. She looks over at me, pointing towards the back.

"I like Diane," she mouths to me, and I roll my eyes. She giggles, turning back to Georg. I close my eyes, trying to keep my temper. I turn towards the twins.

"What on earth are you guys doing to Nora?" I ask them, and Bill smiles.

"Well, she needed a new wardrobe," Bill says nonchalantly.

"And Diane wanted to try on some clothes..." Tom added on.

"It just kind of snowballed from there," Bill finishes. I purse my lips together.

"Wha- Diane, no!" I hear a shy squeal erupt from the changing room, followed by Diane's maniacal laughter. I heard Nora hiss something in English that I didn't quite catch. Bill did, however, and started laughing. I groaned.

"Come on, Nora, strip strip strip!" Diane practically shouts, and I can see confused looks of fellow shoppers as they walked past our little crew. I continued to wait nervously, hoping that whatever Diane was making Nora do wouldn't scar her for eternity.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the door opened. I see Diane walk out in a tight strapless black dress, coming down to her knees. Her wild blonde hair was everywhere, it looked like she just woke up. She strutted down the aisle, and when she reached in sight for the whole crew Tom whistled.

"Hey there sexy lady," he said, and Diane gave him a playful smile, her tongue tickling her top lip. I saw Tom smile happily. I mean shit, he practically had his own porn show right here in front of him. She looked behind her, and she sighed.

"Nora, come on out you beautiful girl!" she called. There wasn't a sound. She held up her finger, signaling us to wait. "Nora," she called in a sing-song voice. When she reached the door, I heard a frightened squeak.

"No! D-don't make me go out there! I look like a stripper!" she cries, and Diane puts her hands on her hips before strutting into the dressing room.

"N-no, please, w-wait! AH!"

Suddenly, Nora pops out of the dressing room, and my jaw almost drops. She had on the same dress as Diane, and it looked amazing on her thin figure. She didn't have very much for hips in contrast to Diane, but Nora still wore that dress nicely. I had to admit though, it really wasn't her style.

When Nora saw me, she squeaked and tried to run back into the dressing room, but Diane blocked her way. I saw her look at her with pleading eyes, but Diane just smiled mischievously. She took Nora by the shoulders, and literally pushed her out into the dressing room lobby.

The entire group whistled as Nora came out, and she turned so red I thought she might faint again. Her eyes were slightly glossy, and she looked like she might burst into tears at any moment. She bit her lip nervously, avoiding eye contact with everyone.

"I h-h-hate you all," she stammered, and Diane smiled at her. Despite her seemingly cruel need to embarrass the heck out of poor little Nora, I could tell that she loved her deeply. I got that aura off of her when she was drilling me on the car ride here. After a few seconds of being out in the lobby, Nora made a mad dash back into the dressing room, slamming the door shut. Squealing, Diane ran after her, trying to open the locked dressing room door.

"Nora, open up!" she called, and I laughed as Nora refused, leaving a half naked Diane desperately trying to get in to the room. Finally, Nora opened the door, letting her captor inside the room. "Okay, NEXT!" Diane shouts, and I couldn't help but laugh with the rest of the group as Nora cried out in disagreement.

Nora tried on several other things, but all of them were normal clothes, like jeans and shirts. There was another dress, though this one was a sun dress. Where Diane managed to find that I have no clue, but I would never ask. In the end, Nora ended up getting a couple sweatshirts that Diane didn't pick out, much to her despair. The whole time when Nora was checking out, I could hear her muttering "ungrateful" every so often. When Nora was done with her purchase, she seemed to be over her traumatic dressing room experience.

We were starting to get hungry so we went to the food court. We all got something to eat, and we found a table large enough for all of us. Diane sat next to Tom, and Bill bothered Georg and Heidi some, which finally left Nora and I to talk to each other for the first time today. Or at least, it seemed that way.

"So. how are you," I asked her, and she gave a tired laugh.

"Tired. And I think I've gained a fear of dressing rooms..." she said, trailing off. I grimaced, and she chuckled. "I'm kidding. Though I really don't want to go through that again," she said, biting her lower lip. I smiled to myself. Hell, I didn't blame her. It sounded like she was being tortured from the lobby, I don't want to even know what Diane was doing to her.

After lunch, we all began to walk around a little bit, looking for nothing in particular. Diane and I began to talk a little bit when Tom disappeared or a moment to go to the bathroom, and we were laughing at a joke when I realized something. I stopped walking, listening to everything around me.

It was quiet. To quiet.

I spun around, and to my despair, the twins were missing. Along with Nora. I groaned in despair, and I began to look around for them. But, they were no where in site.

"Damnit," I growled. "Next time I see those twins, I'm going to wring their necks out." My irritation became replaced with anger as I looked over at Diane. "Did you know this was going to happen?" When her eyes met mine, I saw her surprise and worry, and I got my answer.

This, was all Bill and Tom Kaulitz. And Nora was in their merciless clutches.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Thirteenth Embarrassment, END

Hey guys!

So yeah, another chapter just like I promised... :) I've been on a role with this series, you guys have no idea! I'll probably finish WOW! within the next 10 to 15 days of so, so around 10 to 15 more chapters left... We shall see. :)

So yeah, nothing much to say! Please please please please please please comment!

Lot's of Love and Many Creative Moments from MAW

3


	15. Chapter 14

Fourteenth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

I was catching up to Gustav after getting some water when I felt arms loop through mine on both side of my body.

Effortlessly the twins guided me down towards the left, away from the rest of the group.

"We're going this way!" Bill chirps, and my jaw drops a little. Was I seriously being re-kidnapped?

"Uh, um, hey." I stammered, and I saw Bill look down at me.

"Relax, really. We just want to talk to you," he said, and I felt nervousness flutter in my stomach.

"There, Bill," Tom points out a bench ahead of us, and the boys unhook their arms from mine. I follow them to the bench, and I sit down. They sit down on either side of me. I was starting to feel like I had gotten involved with the mob instead of a rock star.

"Sorry for our rudeness today," Bill says, and I see him turn to me. I could see the sincereness in his eyes, and I nod shyly. "It was wrong of us to play upon your shyness like that, but we couldn't really pass up the opportunity to annoy Gustav like that, too." I give them a small shy smile, and Bill smiles at me. I was starting to see the charming lead singer underneath all the make up and mischievous eyes.

"We just want to make sure that your feelings for Gustav are true," he continues, and I look at him in surprise.

"W-what are you talking about?" I ask, and I can feel my ears heat up.

"You know. That you like Gustav for Gustav, not for his part in Tokio Hotel," he says. What he is saying clicks, and I look up at him in shock.

"O-of course not!" I exclaim, somewhat offended. "Gustav is sweet and funny, he is..." I start, and I see Bill smile knowingly at me. I turn away from him. "You tricked me" I muttered, and he laughed.

"Well, you weren't going to tell us any other way," he said, and I hear Tom laugh next to me. I sigh.

"Yeah.. I l-like Gustav..." I mutter, and I feel my face turn hot. I look up desperately at them. "But don't tell him," I beg, and Bill looks at my confused. "Please, don't tell him," I ask them, and Bill cocks his head to the side.

"Why," he asks me, and I'm taken back. "Why don't you want him to know."

"He totally likes you back," Tom interjects, and I look at him. I blush deeper, and I shuffle my feet.

"Yeah right," I say, but inside I felt something inside me leap. Gustav liked me too? How on Earth could he like a dork such as myself?

"Think what you think," Tom says, and I glance at him. "But if it was anyone else that stumbled or whatever like you did, he would have bitten their head off." Tom smiles at me, and I push up my glasses, turning back to my feet.

"I just..." I start, and they look at me expectantly. "I like being friends with him," I say, and they seem to understand this. "I'm happy with how we are now." We sit there for a little bit in silence before Bill stands up.

"Well, let's get you back to everyone before Gustav sets us on fire or something," Bill says, and I couldn't hep but smile at his comment. I carefully stood up, stretching. I feel Bill loop his arm around me, though this time it didn't make me feel uncomfortable.

"You know he snores," Bill says absently. I looked at him confused. "Gustav I mean. He snores," he says, and I smile. I could see that for some reason.

"And he stinks," Tom says, and I furrow my eyebrows together.

"I... I think he smells nice,"I mutter, and Bill rolls his eyes.

"Of course you do," he teases, and I blush.

"He also takes up the entire bed. Spreads way out," Tom continues.

"And he eats all the time, and it's always meat, it's a vegetarians nightmare!" Bill complains, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"And he has a short temper... and he's a total neat freak." Tom and Bill continue to rant about all of Gustav's problems and I continue to get more and more confused. I mean, first they are telling me to go after him, and next thing I know they are trying to convince me that he is the last person I want to date. I was really starting to get confused by their intentions.

After we had walked around what seemed to be the entire mall, I see something hit the back of Bill's head. He cries out in surprise, de-linking our arms. I turn around and there he was.

Gustav is glaring at the twins, I could feel the anger and irritation radiating off of him.

"You guys are dead," he growls, and I hold back my smile. I see the twins shrug off his comment. I feel hands touch my shoulders, and suddenly I'm stumbling forward, towards Gustav. I let out a surprised squeak, and Gustav steadies me. I feel myself turn red when I feel his hand on my arm, and I try to calm down the butterflies in my stomach. I hear Gustav ask if I was okay, and I nod sheepishly. He begins to walk away from the twins, and I hurry to catch up with him. Behind us, I could hear the twins laughing hysterically, but I didn't mind.

I was back with Gustav.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Fourteenth Embarrassment, END


	16. Chapter 15

Fifteenth Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

"Just ask her out!" Bill complains, and I am trying to keep my temper. Ever since the mall, Bill and Tom have been hounding me even more to ask Nora out on a date, and every time I would tell them no. But now, I've just about had it with their pestering, and I was about to go nuts.

"How many times do I have to tell you this?" I ask them, and I hear Bill snicker.

"Too many times," he says, and I sigh.

"Stop badgering me about this," I say, then promptly hang up my phone. Soon, I was going to be putting Bill permanently on ignore.

I haven't seen Nora in a few weeks, either. We've talked a bunch, but other than that, no. Diane has been keeping her busy with tourist stuff, and currently they were on the other side of Germany. I begin twiddling with my phone. After a few minutes of doing so, I felt my phone go off. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Nora. I greedily opened the phone.

"Nora?" I ask, and I can imagine her smile on the other end.

"Yeah, it's me, " she said shyly, and I couldn't help but smile at her. "Um, what are you up to?" she asked, and I felt surprised by her question. Since when did Nora ask me what I was doing right off the bat?"

"Uh, I'm doing pretty good. Just hanging out. Just got done talking to Bill," I say, and she "ahh"'s in understanding.

"So, uh," she starts, and I listen intently at her. "I was, uh, wondering if, umm." I couldn't help but smile as I imagined her bright red face, her eyes looking down with her feet shuffling. I heard her take a deep breathe. "Would you like to go on a da-" I hear her choke on that last word, and her voice cracks. I lean forward in worry. "On an activity with me tomorrow?" she finally spits out, and I feel my heart skip a beat. I smiled.

"Of course, I'd love to hang out with you," I say, and I can hear her smile.

"G-great! Uh, um, where do you want to go," she asks, and I think.

"We could go to the water front," I suggest, and she thinks about this. "It's cold out, but they have lots of hot food and stands there, it'd be a great place to get souvenirs," I say, and this seems to make up her mind.

"Okay, let's go!" she says, and I could hear the excitement in her voice

We spent some more time talking about tomorrow, where we had decided that we would meet at the actual place. We would be meeting later at night, where we would then later go out to dinner. The water front stands were open until late at night, even during the winter. It would be closing soon though, next Saturday would be it's last opening until the New Year, which was in 3 weeks. As I hung up the phone, I really couldn't wait to see her the following day.

"Hey there, Gustav," she said as she climbed in my Audi, this time without injury. I smiled at her, starting the car.

"What happened to your nick-name for me," I asked her, glancing over. Her face was red.

"I-I just... I don't know," she murmured.

"Well, I kinda miss it," I said as the car turned on to the freeway. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. Her face was even more red.

"Oh, um, so w-what d-did you want me t-to do?" she stammered, and I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"Call me by your nick-name," I said, and she squeaked.

"I-I can't," she said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Come on!" I said, nudging her shoulder a little bit. She squeaked again.

"Gus..." she started, but stopped. "I can't! It's to weird!" she squeaked, and I laughed. I nudged her again.

"Please?" I asked, and she looked up at me. I stuck out my lower lip, and she turned a deeper shade of red. I turned back to the road briefly to make sure that I wasn't going to crash us.

"Gut... Gusti," she finally said. I smiled.

"See, that wasn't so hard," I said to her, and she laughed sheepishly.

The rest of the car ride we talked about nothing in particular. It was one of those conversations that you wouldn't remember what the hell you talked about the next day, but you knew that it was fun and lighthearted. When we arrived at the water front it was 5:00. As we climbed out of the car, I noticed that she dropped her hat again on the car seat. I grabbed it for her before I locked the doors on my Audi.

I trotted over to where Nora is walking over to a stand. I quickly place the hat on her head, and she jumps in surprise.

"Oh, Gustav," she started, and I shook my pouted at her. "Oh, I mean, Gusti," she said, blushing as she called me that. "You, uh, startled me," she said, or was it squeak. I couldn't help but smile at her.

"Come on, lets go!" I called her excitedly. She smiled, nodding her head in agreement. I don't know why, but I felt like a little kid again, where everything was awesome and the world had so much more light in it. I couldn't help but smile.

We walked around the stands for awhile, and Nora bought a lot of souvenirs. She got a couple snow globes for her sisters. It turns out that one of them thy had adopted when she was 7, a 14 year-old girl from Africa named Fifi. Nora had shown me a picture of her family: her biological one looked more like her mother, with her cropped blonde hair and blue eyes. Her adoptive sister reminded me of someone from the Boondocks: her black hair was pouffy, like an afro. She had a huge smile that seemed to cover her entire face with dark brown eyes that reminded me a lot of Nora, even though they aren't related. I could tell that both of her sisters were going to grow up to be beautiful women. Nora also got Fifi a sky blue sweatshirt and a beanie for her other sister, Anna. I could tell that she was incredibly excited for her purchases, and she couldn't wait to give them to her sisters.

We continued to walk around, during that time she managed to pick something up for her parents. Pleased, we carefully put everything in the car before we walked alongside the waterfront for a little bit.

I was surprised with the lack of paparazzi that had followed us. Perhaps we were just lucky, I wasn't entirely sure. Whatever force that was working with us, however, I welcomed it's help. I'm sure Nora didn't want to be the cover story for a magazine, or several of them. Later in the evening, we decided to go to a local pub to eat dinner and talk some more. If it was even possible, we had more fun talking and sitting there than we had walking around at the waterfront.

"Excuse me," Nora spoke up at one point after she had stopped laughing at something I had told her. "I'm going to go to the bathroom," she says, getting up. I nod, and I point where they are.

"Don't get lost," I tease, and she rolls her eyes.

"It's right in front of me, that'd take skill," she said, and I laughed slightly. I settled back down in my chair, finishing my hamburger. I see the waitress come over to me.

"Hey, I was wondering," she said, and I sighed. "Could I have you autograph?" she asked, and I nodded. "I didn't want to disturb you with your girlfriend," she said bashfully, and I nodded.

"Thank you for your consideration," I said gratefully. "She's not my girlfriend though, just a good friend," I correct her, and she looks at me in surprise.

"Oh, really?" she asks, and I nod. "I never would have guessed..." she shrugs, handing me a pen to sign the paper she had given me. When I gave it back to her, she smiled. "Thank you so much, my sister is going to freak out!" she giggled. I gave her a smile, and I put my finger to my lips.

"It's be great if you didn't scream about my presence here tonight," I say quietly, and she nods in understanding.

"Of course, understood, Mr. Wolfgang," she said, winking at me. I smiled, and as she left I turned back to my hamburger.

Several minutes passed by as I sat there waiting for Nora. After 10 minutes after she left for the bathroom and I had paid for the bill, I began to get worried. I got up from my table, and I headed towards the bathroom.

"You think you can just walk away from me, you little bitch," I hear a man snarl, followed by a small squeak. My heart jumped; I recognized that squeak. I hurried over around the corner, and there they were.

There, 3 drunk men surrounded a very frightened Nora. Furry rose inside of me, and I stalked over to them. I pushed one aside, and he yelped in surprise.

"Get, " I snarl at them. "Away from her."

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Fifteenth Embarrassment, END


	17. Chapter 16

Sixteenth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

i_A stroke is an abnormal condition of the brain characterized by occlusion by an embolus, thrombus, or cerebrovascular hemorrhage or vasospasm, resulting in ischemia of the brain tissues normally perfused by the damaged vessels. _/i

I watched in horror as the 3 men surrounded me. I was to frightened to speak, or even scream. They saw me trembling.

"Awww, is the little mouse scared?" one of them slurred, and I took a deep breathe in. I scooted along the wall, trying to get away from these creeps.

"You think you can just walk away from me, you little bitch," another one snarls, and I squeak. I back up closer to the wall, closing my eyes as the men came closer...

Suddenly, one of the men shouted in surprise, and I open my fearful eyes to see Gustav. I could feel the rage radiating off of him, and in the midst of my relief, I was scared by the intensity of him. Never, have I seen anybody so angry.

"Get, " he snarls at them. "Away from her."

The men surrounding me laugh mockingly at him, and I feel someone grab my arm. I shriek as I'm drawn up close to one of the men, the pressure he was putting on my arm was tremendous, I felt as if it might snap. I whimpered at it's pressure, and I see Gustav begin to loose it. Infuriated, he runs up to the guy that is holding me, and without any warning, punches him in the jaw. I shriek as the guy lets go of my arm, falling to the ground. Frightened tears come to my eyes, and I close my eyes to the fight around me. Another person grabs me, and I scream.

"Nora, Nora, it's me!" I open my eyes and see the light brown pools that I've come to know, and before I know it we are running. "Come on, hurry, we're getting out of here," he says, dragging me behind.

"Hey, come back here you bastard!" One of the men shout at us, and I whimper. We reach outside just as someone tackles Gustav. I screamed in fear as I watched the man beat Gustav.

"No, no, stop it!" I scream. I see people inside the pub look outside in confusion. Panicked, I run inside to get help. "Please! Please, somebody, my friend is getting beaten!" I cry desperately. I see the bar tender run outside, and I follow him.

"Hey, hey hey! Boys come on! Break it up!" He shouts, but they don't stop. The bar tender reaches down and grabs the man on top of Gustav, pulling him off. "I said thats enough!" he shouts. I let out a sigh of relief when they seem to stop. I was wrong, however, because I felt someone rush by me, and I watched in horror as the man brought a beer bottle harshly down on Gustav's head. He lets out a painful cry, and I shriek.

"GUSTAV!" I cry, and I run to him, just as a second bottle is brought down on his head. The men run away, and I lean down towards his head. He had multiple gashes on his head, and I turned to the bar tender. "Quick, call an ambulance! And get me a cloth soaked with water!" I shout, and he nods. I hear Gusatv groan, and he tries to get up.

"Nora..."

"Shut up," I murmur, examining his wounds. "Lay back down, don't move," I instruct him.

"Yes Nurse Nora." I couldn't hep but smile at that last part, and I felt tears pool in my eyes.

"You idiot," I cry, and he looks at me in surprise. "What were you thinking, you could have gotten yourself killed," I whimper. I see him try to get up again. "Lay back down!" I bark at him, and he obediently lays back down. The bar tender comes with my washcloth.

"Here you go," he breathes. "Do you know what you're doing?" he ass me, and I nod.

"I'm in pre-med school," I tell him, and he nods in understanding. I begin to slowly and carefully clean Gustav's head, but the bleeding seemed to never end. I purse my lips.

"Shit," I mutter. Gustav looks at me confused. "You're going to need stitches. I can't do much right now..." As soon as I say this, I hear the all-to-familiar sound of a siren. I look gratefully at the car, and I wave them down. They hurriedly park at the curb, a paramedic jumping out.

"What happened?" he shouts at me, and I move out of the way for him.

"He was hit in the head with two bottles," I tell him. "Multiple lacerations on the scalp that are going to need stitches, some bruising on the face, and a good chance of a concussion," I tell him. He glances over at me.

"Are you..."

"I'm a senior at Harvard pre-medical," I tell him, and he nods in understanding. A stretcher s brought from the truck, and Gustav is placed in it. I follow them into the ambulance, taking my place by Gustav's hand.

"Nora?" he calls, confused.

"I'm here, Gustav," I call back to him, stroking his hand. I feel his fingers grasp mine, and I blush, my heart jumping.

"Gusti, remember?" he corrects me. I laugh, tears pooling in my eyes.

"Idiot," I mutter, and I squeeze his hand. I see him smile through the streaming lights and paramedics. I couldn't help but smile at him, too.

In the end, Gustav needed over 30 stitches... 36, to be exact. I was right about the concussion, though it wasn't as bad as it could have been. He had a nice shaved spot on his head now, and his face was swollen. He was a sight for sore eyes, for sure, but he definitely got away easy. I was expecting something much worse.

Bill, Tom, Georg and their producer came to the hospital to check up on him, Bill and Tom protecting me from the reporters. I talked to the police, to help them identify Gustav's attackers. It wasn't until 3 in the morning did I finally make it home from the mayhem.

I walk into my apartment, and I'm immediately attacked by Diane. She lets out a soft sob, and I hug her back.

"Oh my God, I'm so glad your safe," she blubbers, and I smiled.

"I'm okay, I had my superman," I told her, and she gasps.

"How is he?" she asks, and my smile falls.

"He's okay. Better than I thought he was going to be. He has 36 stitches a concussion and some bruising on his face. He's going to have a massive headache tomorrow," I say, and she let's out a small laugh. She hugs me again, kissing my cheek.

"I'm just so glad that you are okay," she whispers.

Suddenly, I hear my phone go off. I groan, and I pull it out of my pocket, wondering who on Earth could be calling at this hour. It had to be Bill and Tom, if anyone. To my surprise, however, I find that it's my mom's cell number. Diane looks at me confused, and I send her an equally confused look. I step to another side of the room to get some space when I open the phone.

"Hello? Mom?" I answer. All around me, I can hear panicked shouting. I could hear one of my sisters crying. Fear builds up in me, and I hold the phone tighter. "Mom, what going on? What happened?" I cry into the phone. It's then I realize that she's crying.

"Nora, honey," she babbles over the noise. I listen more carefully. "Nora, baby, your father... he..." I feel my heart stop.

"Mom, what happened to dad?" I ask thickly. I feel worried tears rise.

"Nora, your father just had a stroke," my mom tells me, and I freeze. Episodes of i_House_/i and definitions from my textbook flash in my mind. Stroke.

"Is, is he okay?" I cry out in horror. Most people recover from strokes, but not always, sometimes, sometimes...

"We don't know yet, he's unconscious right now... but I wanted to call you and let you know..." I hear my mom cry even more, and I feel worried tears roll down my face. "Look, Nora, I have to go right now, but don't worry, your father is a strong, brilliant man. He'll be okay, all right?" I hear Fifi say something in the background, followed by crashing. "Sorry, Nora, I ned to go.."

"It's okay, mom, just call me as soon as you know anything," I ask, and she agrees hastily. When I hang up the phone, I collapse to the ground.

"Nora!" Diane calls out to me, rushing to my aid. I collapse against her, frightened tears pouring down my face. Diane wraps me in her arms, rocking me back and forth like a child. "Hush, don't worry, everything will be okay, hush now," she soothes, and I nod my head dumbly against her.

i_A stroke is an abnormal condition of the brain characterized by occlusion by an embolus, thrombus, or cerebrovascular hemorrhage or vasospasm, resulting in ischemia of the brain tissues normally perfused by the damaged vessels. To put in simpler terms, a stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain function, or functions, due to disturbances in the blood supply to the brain._

_Paralysis, weakness, sensory change, speech defect, aphasia, or death may occur._/i

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Sixteenth Embarrassment, END


	18. Chapter 17

Seventeenth Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

Nora was right. I had a hell of headache the following morning.

I followed the doctors (and Nora's) instructions on cleaning my stitches. They are really tender, and I grit my teeth together as I cleaned them.

"Stupid fucking bastards," I growled to myself. "If I see them again, I swear to God I'm going to make them wish they were never born."

I stop cleaning my stitches and start getting dressed for the day.

"I'm doing fine, mom, stop worrying," I say, but my mom doesn't stop whimpering.

"When were you planning on telling me about this?" she cries, and I sigh.

"Today, mom, when I didn't have a headache..."

"Well, I'm sorry for worrying about you!"she wails, and I breathe in, attempting to keep my temper.

"Mother..."

"Oh don't 'mother' me! God damnit, Gustav, please take care of yourself!" I feel guilt stab me as my mom starts crying again, and I feel myself crumble under her pressure.

"I will," I assure her, and she breathes out in relief.

"Thank you, honey," she whimpers, and I imagine her wiping her teary eyes, and I couldn't help but smile.

"I gotta go, mom. I'll talk to you later." We say our goodbyes, and I hang up my phone.

This was such a mess.

Nora called me pretty soon after my mother did. Making sure that I was cleaning my stitches, asking me how they looked, and so on. I could tell that she was worried, about me, and I felt guilty for making her so worried. But even through her worried mothering, I could tell that something else was up. When I asked her what was up, she said not to worry about it. When she hung up on me, I knew something was going on.

Something was terribly wrong. My Gustav senses are tingling.

5 DAYS LATER

I slowly climb out of my car, and I walk into the hotel. I hadn't heard form Nora for a couple days, and I was getting worried. As the elevator climbs up to Nora's room level, I run through the possibilities of what was going on. As the doors open, I step out, only to run into someone.

"Oh, pardon me.."

"I'm sorry- Oh, Gustav." I look and I see Diane there in front of me. She looked tired, and her eyes were slightly red. "It's great to see you, I'm so glad that you are al-"

"What's up with Nora?" I ask her, and she looks at me confused.

"You mean she hasn't told you?" she asks me, and I shake my head. She sighs.

"Her dad had a stroke," she said, and I looked at her in horror. She looks up at me with glossy eyes, full of regret. "He's paralyzed. For life."

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Seventeenth Embarrassment, END


	19. Chapter 18

Eighteenth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

i_Paralysis is the loss of muscle function, sensation, or both._/i

Daddy was paralyzed on the entire left side of his body. He lost the ability to speak. My once, happy, funny, loving father has now been reduced to practically a vegetable. It was horrifying to hear that from my mother.

I insisted that I would be going back to United States to help my mother and siblings in California. I told them that I would go to my apartment first, ask for a leave of absence from school. Then I would go to California.

I'm packing up my things, getting ready to leave. I wouldn't be leaving for another couple days, but I didn't want to leave anything behind. Packing now assured that, and it rested my nerves. I hear a knock on my door, and I pause, confused. Diane had her key, so why would she need to knock? I let out a sigh, and I went over an opened the door.

To my surprise, Gustav was there in front of my door, his worried gaze staring down at me.

"Nora, is it true?" he asks me, and I stare at him in shock. "About your dad?" I found myself unable to do anything when he asked me this, I couldn't get past the fact that he was here.

"Gustav," I say stupidly. After a moment I stepped back, letting him in my hotel room. "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be resting, you have a pretty nasty concussion. And how about your stitches, are you..."

"Nora," he says cooly, and I stop my blabbering. He turns towards me, his gaze softening. "You're crying," he says softly. It's then that I noticed that a tear was rolling down my cheek, almost pathetically. I quickly wipe it away, sitting down on one of the beds in the room.

"Ye-Yeah, it's true," I whimper. A soft sob escapes me, and I shake my head. "I shouldn't be crying, he is okay now, he's alive.. paralyzed, but alive nonetheless..." I see Gustav come over to the bed that I'm on, sitting next to me. I sigh. "I... I have to go back home," I whisper, and he nods his head in understanding. I look up at him in shock. "Thats it? Your not going to yell at me or get angry or anything?" I ask, and he looks at me confused.

"Why would I do that? It's your family, and they are important to you," he says, and I turn away from him. Something inside of me wanted him to ask me to stay, to say that he would come with me, that he liked being with me... "I'm going to miss you," he says, and I'm jerked out of my own thoughts. I blush slightly, closing my eyes. A few tears roll down my cheeks.

"I... I'm going to miss you.. too... Gustav," I cry softly. I wipe my tears away, and I feel Gustav wrap his arm around me, hugging me. I blushed deeply at this, unable to help it.

"When are you leaving" he asks, and I sigh.

"The day after tomorrow. I'm going to my apartment before heading to California," I tell him, and I feel him nod. I sit there in Gustav's arms for awhile, loving the way that he felt against me. At some point I sat up, giving him a weak smile. "Seriously though, have you been taking care of your stitches?"

He laughed.

"We'll see each other soon, okay? I won't be back in time for the trip, but I'll come back up here some other time, okay?" I told Gustav. He gave me a small nod, and I tried my best to hold back my tears.

I had said goodbye to Tom, Bill, Georg and Heidi the day before. It was almost as heartbreaking as it is now, to say goodbye to Gustav. I gave him a weak smile, and he did the same.

"Remember, you can call me anytime you need to, okay? Don't be afraid, no matter what time it is here, okay?" There was a hint of desperation in his voice that made it hard for me to look at him; I didn't want him to see me on the brink of tears. I give him a weak nod.

Then, just like he did when we first met, he pulled me into a huge hug. This time though, I hugged him back, a few tears escaping. I didn't want to leave Germany. There were still so may thing that I ad left to do. I wanted to get to know Gustav better, and I wanted to learn more about the twins and Georg and Heidi. There were still so many places left that I didn't get to see, and I was so attached to this town that I felt like this i_was_/i home.

i_"Passengers in seats..._/i

I regrettably let go of Gustav, wiping away my tears. I give him a smile, and I picked up my suitcases. With as much confidence and pride as I could muster, I walked down the aisle of the airplane. When I reached my seat, it took everything I had to not start crying. I held it all in, and when the plane finally took off the ground, I felt myself fall into a not so peaceful sleep.

Everything, of course, looked the same.

My apartment was exactly as I had left it when I left. I dropped my bags off in the living room: I was too exhausted to bother dragging them to my room. Stripping off my coat and scarf, I dropped the several layers I had onto the floor as I made my way to my bedroom. I couldn't help but feel a sense of de ja vu as I walked down the hallway; the set-up to my apartment was scarily similar to that of Gustav's.

Gustav.

When I reached my bed, I immediately grabbed the blanket that my dad had given me when I first left for college. I wrapped my body around it, laying down on my bed. Then, I released the tears that I had been holding back on the plane.

I missed Gusatv. During my time in Germany, I had fallen even more in love with him. He was beyond anything that I could have imagined, he was a sweet perfection. I loved him so much, and for the first time since I had met him, I wished that he felt the same way, hurt so much to realize that he didn't that it was almost unbearable. For the first time since I started to love Gustav, I wished that I didn't. Not now. Not when everything is so wrong and all I wanted is for something right.

I cried for my father. I was worried sick about him. And I missed him. I missed Anna and mom and Fifi. I missed everyone so much, and I wished that I wasn't seeing them because of dad's stroke. I wondered what mom was going to do for dad: how much of their house were they have to remodel, or would my family have to move completely? What was going to happen? I knew what was going to happen from a medical standpoint, but I never imagined that I would have to figure out what to do first hand. It just seemed to unrealistic.

I cried and I cried. I cried with Gustav's face in my mind, his grip around my heart, and with daddy's mock comfort wrapped around my tiny body.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Eighteenth Embarrassment, END


	20. Chapter 19

Nineteenth Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

"How is she doing?" Georg asked, and I grimaced.

"She's doing okay. She is preparing to get ready to go to California, she'll be leaving in about a week... her flight got pushed back or something like that." I heard Georg sigh over the phone line, and I did the same.

"It's such a shame, she is such a sweet girl," he said, and I nodded in agreement.

"She really is," I mutter. I lightly scratched my stitches: they were really bothering me. I felt my sprits get down as we talked about Nora; I really did miss her.

Georg and I talked for a little longer before he got off. I've been keeping in contact with Diane a lot too, mostly to let her know how Nora was doing. Diane really wanted to go home with Nora, but she didn't have the money available to switch her flight and such. Nora wouldn't let Diane consider coming with her either, saying that this was her family. She didn't want to ruin her friends vacation.

Sometimes, I wonder if I made the right decision to stay here in Germany. I missed her terribly, but I was sure that because we were such good friends. Still, I didn't get i_this_/i depressed when I left my friends on tour or anything. I wasn't really sure what was up with me. I blame it all on the pain medications.

I went about my daily routine. Cleaning my stitches, itching my stitches, watching TV, eating... I didn't really feel like leaving to go anywhere. The world just didn't seem that exciting lately. Ever since Nora left...

I shake my head. No, I wasn't going to be brooding about this. I was going to do something useful today, damnit. But even though I tell myself this, I couldn't find the motivation to get up. I was just to tired.

I was tired of missing Nora.

"How is everything going?" I ask her. The phone line was full of static noise, but somehow her voice rang out loud and clear.

"It's going okay." She sounded tired and drained. She had around 5 more days until she was going to California, and she has been in constant communication with her folks. Apparently, she would be staying in her old room, and I couldn't help but wonder what it looked like. I hoped someday I would be able to meet her parents... it only seemed fitting, for some reason. "Talked to Diane lately?" she asked me, dragging me out of my thoughts. I nodded.

"Yeah, I stopped by earlier today. She told me to tell you that she found her German strippers... somehow Tom is one of them," I said, a sly smile playing on my lips. I heard her laugh.

"No way, she slept with Tom?" she asked, and I could imagine her bright red.

"Yeah, they went out to a bar together, got drunk... you know," I said, feeling myself blush a little. I heard her laugh again, and that seemed to make it worth it. "She also picked up another guy who she says that she is bring back to the states with her.. his name is Franz or something like that," I said, and I imagined her face on the other end. She would probably be bright red, shaking her head side to side.

"That girl," she says in between small giggles. "I don't know what I'm going to do with her," she said, and I laughed.

"She said that she misses you and that she will give you a huge hug when she gets back," I referred to her. I could hear her smile.

"Tell her thank, Gustav. That means the world to me... is she still having fun?"

"Yeah, though not as much as she was when you were here. But she's trying." I give myself a soft smile trying to convince myself that Nora would be back soon.

"Thats good... I'm glad that I'm not totally ruining her vacation!" she gives a small laugh, and I laugh softly with her. We sit in silence for a little bit.

"Hey, Nora," I say softly.

"Yeah, Gustav?" I can hear her hesitate a little, expecting the worst of something. I smile.

"I miss you," I tell her. I hear her squeak a little, and I laugh a little at her. I could imagine her face red right now, and it made my day thinking about it.

"I.." she starts, but her voice cuts off a little. "I miss you too, Gustav."

Things still have been boring without Nora here, but on the other hand I was starting to get busy with the Tokio Hotel.

We talked as much as we could. She had bought one of those cards that allowed her minutes to other people across the world, so it made talking easier and cheaper. With her dad paralyzed from the stroke, it only made sense.

Only 4 more days until she would be leaving.

I sit on my couch, finishing my beer. I was watching i_Scrubs_/i, mostly because there was nothing left on the TV to watch. After this episode, I was planning on going to bed. The show stops for a commercial break, and I take this moment to stretch.

I take another sip of my beer, putting the TV on mute. I wasn't in the mood for commercials.

Suddenly, I heard my phone go off.

i_Gusti, pick up the phone!_/i

The sound of Nora's voice sent me flying off the couch. That was the ringtone she had set for me for when she called, and I haven't failed her yet. I quickly picked up the phone.

"Hey there, Nora," I breathe, my heart beat beating wildly. I hear a heavy sob, followed by crying. I feel myself freeze. "Nora? Nora, what's wrong?" I ask anxiously. I hear her try to calm down, but at how hard it sounded like she was crying that was going to take a little bit.

"Gustav," she whimpered, and I could barely make out my name through her sobs. "Gusti," she blubbered again, and I waited for her to continue.

"Nora, what's wrong? What happened?" She let out a heavy sob. After a few seconds, she finally caught her breathe.

"Daddy died."

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Nineteenth Embarrassment, END


	21. Chapter 20

Twentieth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

"He... he had another stroke," I blubbered. I felt my sobs come out harder, unable to control myself. "Gustav, I don't know what to do, I don't know, he just..." My words weren't even understandable anymore.

"Nora, calm down," Gustav says, and I stop talking. My crying didn't stop, however. I was hysterical at this point, I was out of control. "Nora, listen to me, listen," he says calmly, and I try to take deep breathes. "Listen to me, take a deep breathe. Do it with me, ready?" I nod my head, and I breathe in as I hear him do so. I release it harshly before I could take a full one, another sob ripping through me.

"I'm sorry!" I wail, my crying starting all over again. I hold my blanket close to my chest. One that dad gave me. My hand clenches is, my knuckles turning white. I begin to rock myself.

"Nora, you're okay, calm down, take another deep breathe," he comforts, and I shake my head.

"Gustav, I can't, I can't," I cry, and I hear him take a deep breathe in.

"Yes you can, come on, work with me here," he says, and I shake my head side to side.

"I can't, I can't," I cry, rocking myself harder.

"Nora," he says sternly, and I feel myself let out a heavy sob. "Nora, listen. You can do it. I'll do it with you, okay. Ready?" I feel his courage drift slowly into my veins, and I nod. "Okay, on the count of three, okay?" I nod again, and I start breathing in to get ready. "1," he starts, and I close my eyes. "2," I straighten my posture, to expand my lung capacity. "3," At the magic number, I breathe in deeply. I hold my heavy sobs back as I breathe in, and I hold it for several seconds. I let it out slowly, and immediately I began to feel better. I begin to do it again.

"There you go," he whispers soothingly, and I nod, a small smile on my face.

"I did it," I said, like a child. "I breathed."

i_Remeber, honey. Drink lot's of water, eat right, and of course," my dad instructs me. "Breathe."/i_

More tears rolled down my face, and I wiped them away. Memories of my dad poured in to my brain like a gushing fountain. I was feeling exhausted by everything around me.

"When should I come over?" I heard him ask. It took me a moment to register what he just said.

"Wait, come over? Like in the states?" I asked dumbly.

"Yeah, when should I come?" he asks. I shook my head.

"Don't worry about it, Gustav. I just..." I sniffled, wiping more tears away. "I just needed someone to cry to, you know?" I smile weakly at the empty space in my room. "I'll be fine," I whispered to him. Or myself. I couldn't really decide. I take a deep breath in, stretching my back. "Anyway, I'm going to go to bed... I'll talk to you later?" I ask him, unsure.

"Of course, Nora. You can call me any time you need to," he says, and I smile, genuinely this time. Hearing his voice, saying that to me, it meant everything to me, especially now. I wiped away a few stray tears.

"Good night, Gusti," I whisper, afraid to speak any louder else I start crying again. I hear him smile.

"Good night, Nora."

When I hang up the phone, I immediately regret it. My face twists up, and a painful sob rips through my body. I lean forward, my forehead resting on my bed spread. I let out a pitiful wail, feeling everything break apart.

2 DAYS LATER

It was late at night when I slowly trudged to the front door. Someone was knocking on it.

I felt exhausted and my body hurt, like I had ran a thousand marathons and then got hit by a truck. I knew this was because of my crying the past two days, and my muscles were sore. I knew the science behind it. But what I didn't know was why there was someone knocking on my door. I reached for the door knob, turning it slowly. I opened the door, immediately wrapping my arms around myself from the cold air. I look up at my visitor. When I see his face, I cry in surprise.

It was a man, not too much taller than me. He had short blonde hair with a black jacket on. His cheeks and nose were flushed, and his breathes came out in white steam in the cold air. Tears pooled in my eyes when I saw him, and I staggered backwards in shock.

Gustav.

He saw me stagger, and he leaps for me. He catches my hand and pulls me against him, and I'm immediately crushed by his strong arms. It takes everything to keep myself standing as I begin to sob into the nape of his neck. I hear the door close, and I feel him stroke my head, his other hand wrapping itself around my midsection. Pitiful wails erupt from me, mixtures between despair over my dad's death and relief over Gustav's arrival overwhelming me. I felt his lips press against my forehead, the side of my head, but I was unable to think about it long enough to get embarrassed. He rocked me gently from side to side, like a baby in a cradle. I wrapped my arms around his neck, wanting to get as close as possible to him. Human touch and human comfort, it felt so good and so unreal that I was afraid to let go of him.

"Hush, Nora, you're okay," he whispers. I nod my head pathetically, unable to do anything else except that and cry. He kisses my head again, the warmth of his body beautiful. "You're okay, you're okay. Everything is going to be alright."he whispers. "I promise." I nodded my head again, and I hugged him tighter. He was better than any teddy bear, he was better than any blanket. He was Gustav, I loved him, and he was here.

That meant everything to me.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twentieth Embarrassment, END


	22. Chapter 21

Twenty-first Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

Nora fell asleep soon after I came.

She was so exhausted that she never changed out of her clothes. A dark brown long hemp skirt hung on her thin frame with a black turtleneck shirt. Her hair was down, something that I had never seen on her. I could tell that it had grown since I last saw her though, and it came down to her shoulder blades now. She had dark circles under her eyes and she was pale. Holding her in my arms, I could tell that she has lost some weight. She was a mess.

I continued to stroke her head. She had fallen asleep in my arms after we went to her bed, still crying.

I wasn't sure how long we laid there together before she fell asleep, but the whole time we laid there in silence.

She had her arms around my chest still, even after she fell asleep. She cried so hard and she hung on to me like a child, but I didn't mind. I wanted her close to me like this, I loved having her next to me like this. I loved the way she clenched to my shirt, the way she wasn't afraid to cry against me. I loved the way she said my name, with that small stutter and the way she would peek up through her eyelashes to look up at me. I loved the way that she smelled next to me, the way she sounded when she breathed. I loved Nora, and I wanted her to come back to Germany after all of this was over.

I felt Nora shift against me, a soft moan erupting from her. I felt my breath catch in my throat, but she soon falls back into a steady breathing rhythm. I breathe out slowly, releasing the breath I was holding I nestle my forehead against hers, pressing my lips against her forehead.

"I love you, Nora," I whispered to her, and I could feel my ears heat up at my statement. I haven't really told that to a girl and meant it, at least not this way. I wasn't really sure when I fell in love with her, maybe it was when she left to help her father I realized my feelings. Or maybe I was always in love with her, and I just wasn't aware of it. Whatever, none of that really mattered now.

I push a strand of hair out of her face, and she groans again, though this time her eyes blink open. Sleep was still nestled in her eyes, and she sleepily smiled at me.

"Hey, Gusti," she mumbled. I felt her grasp around my waist tighten, and I heard a soft cry escape her lips. I looked down to see that she had started to cry a little again. "Thank you," she cried softly. I gently sat us up, and she squeezed my tighter. "Thank you," she whispered to me again. I felt her kiss my cheek softly, then rest her head on my shoulder. "Thank you so much."

A smile spread across my face when she said this, my cheek still tingling from her kiss. I hugged her tighter, burying my face in her soft hair.

"Anytime, Nora," I tell her softly. I kiss the side of her head. "Anytime."

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twenty-first Embarrassment, END


	23. Chapter 22

Twenty-second Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

"You really don't have to do this," I tell Gustav, and he crosses his arms.

"I did not come all the way to Massachusetts only to be kicked back to Germany the next day. I want to be there with you in California," he says, and I sigh. Truth is, I wanted Gustav to come with me more than anything, and I know that mom was totally fine with him coming. If anything, she wanted him to come. But even with my desperate need for him to be by my side, I didn't want to keep him from hie friends and family. However, he refused to leave my side, which made me incredibly happy and extremely guilty all at the same time. It was very confusing.

"Gustav, I can't just drag you to California. And why would you want to go to my dads... dads..." Tears pool in my eyes, and I feel him wrap his arms around me. Sniffling, I take the tissue he handed me, dabbing my eyes. "Thank you," I sniffle, blushing a little bit when I realized that he still had his arms around me. I didn't have the heart to move. I felt him nestle his face on the side of my neck, and I blushed deeper.

"I'm not leaving you," he muttered, and I felt him squeeze me tighter. "Last time you said you would be fine without me you broke down." I turn towards him the best I could.

"My dad died, Gusti, what do you think..."

"Exactly," he interrupts. "Your dad died. This isn't the time for you to be alone." I pursed my lips together, finding that I couldn't argue against him. "So, I'm coming to California," he told me, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Fine." I felt him let go of me, and I turned to see him smiling.

"Good. I'll make sure that I have everything ready." He walks over to the bedroom that he was staying in, and I lean against the kitchen counter, crossing my arms.

I still couldn't believe that Gustav came for me. I know that this sounds cheesy, but I really did feel like a princess in a fairy tale, and here come Gustav, my brave knight. It all seemed to good to be true.

Unlike Gustav, I had already packed my bags for California. Well, more of, I never really unpacked from Germany. I had gotten my leave of absence from school, paid my rent on my apartment, and I was ready to go to California. Tomorrow evening, I would be seeing my family again. Well, most of my family. I wasn't sure what my mother planned to do with my fathers body, whether to burn it or to bury it. I did know that my father wanted to have his organs donated, and I'm sure that that process had already taken place. I shuddered at the thought of my fathers organs being extracted, from his liver and kidneys to even his eyeballs. Even though I had seen a countless number of surgeries, autopsies, and have poked around with a couple cadavers myself, the thought of my fathers body being torn apart made me want to hurl. Thats pretty much what I did.

Gustav of course came running to my rescue, asking if I was okay. I just nodded, seeming that seemed to be all I could do since I couldn't talk through my tears. All I could think about was my fathers eyes carefully being pried out of his skull.

"Nora, Nora, are you okay, what's wrong?" I just shook my head, trying to calm myself down. "Take a deep breath, come on, breathe," he reminds me. I do as he says.

"I-I-I, I can't get it out of my mind," I whimper, clutching my head.

"Get what out of your head?" he asks me, confused. I point at my eyes.

"His eyes! He's an organ donor, so his eyes... his eyes..." I feel myself become nauseous again. Gustav sees this and quickly reaches for the large bowl that was in the sink, a remainder from last nights dinner. I feel my body lurch forward and I cough, vomit dribbling pathetically down my chin. I spit into the bowl, trying to get as much bile out of my mouth as possible.

"Stay right here," he whispers. He stand up, getting paper towels and a glass of water in order for me to rinse my mouth out. I take the glass, swishing the water around my mouth. I could still taste the bitter bile on my tongue, something that would stay with me even after I would brush my teeth. I spit the water into the bowl that I had previously threw up in, and I wipe my mouth, chin and neck off with one of the paper towels.

"This is disgusting," I mutter, leaning against the kitchen wall. I feel Gustav wrap his arms around me, pulling me against him. I try to hold back my tears, but my shoulders shook anyways.

"You can cry," Gustav said, and I shook my head.

"N-No," I whimper. "I've cried so much, I don't want to cry anymore," I blubbered. Despite my best efforts, a few tears rolled down my cheeks. I felt Gustav pull me closer to him.

"Yes you can. Crying is good for you. You aren't going to heal any faster by not crying. The only way to move on is to let go," he soothes. I let out a sob, leaning my head against his shoulder.

"Gusti," I blubber, my words barely understandable.

"Hmmm?"

"I..." My voice breaks, another sob interrupting my sentence. I bury my head further into his body, his sweet scent overwhelming me. I clutched on to his sweatshirt like my life depended on it. "I... I miss him," I whimper, my cries beginning to cease a little bit. I feel Gustav pull me closer to him. I wasn't sure how much closer we could get to each other; I was sitting in between his legs, hugged up against his chest. I was completely surrounded by him, and it felt amazing to have him so close to me. Soon, I let go of his sweatshirt, about to pull myself back. Gustav didn't let go though. "Gusti, you can let go now..." I say, trying to laugh at him through a few stray tears.

"No, not yet," he whispers. I had calmed down enough to actually blush, my face turning a familiar shade of red. "Not until you've stopped crying completely." I couldn't help but smile as he said this, and I gladly nestled back into his arms, this time wrapping my own arms around his strong neck. I felt myself blush some more, but for the first time in awhile I didn't mind. All I knew was that I had Gustav here holding me, my heart was about to pound out of my chest, and I could feel my ears heat up more as the seconds ticked by.

"Gusti," I whisper, and he grunts in response. "I..." I feel the words form on the tip of my tongue, words that I've wanted to say for a long time now. "I lo..."

i_I love you._/i

"What is it, Nora?" he asks, and I sigh. I feel myself blush even more, and I purse my lips together.

"Thank you," I finally say. "This means a lot to me," I tell him, and he nods.

"Anytime."

When he finally releases me, I couldn't help but laugh at his flushed face, and he couldn't help but laugh at my own flushed cheeks. Then, my Prince Charming helps me up off the floor.

"Passengers in seat 10 through 15, you may board the plan at this time..."

Gustav and I grab our carry on bags and give our tickets to the attendant. Once we were checked off, we make our way down the plane terminal.

I've never really been a huge fan of flying. First of all, I don't like going down plane terminals. They remind me of something from a sci-fi movie, with the silver metal lining the entire tube. Then there is the smell of gas and musty luggage and all of this other stuff that hits your nose as you walk down it that just makes me want to gag. Then there are the flight attendants and the captain that give you that fake smile that screams "I'm only nice to you because my job depends on it". Then you have the seats, and when they serve you drinks or snacks the smell just hovers in the air. Don't even get me started on the lavatories.

Gustav and I make our way to our seats, and I tiredly sit down. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night. I had a nightmare about my dads autopsy for some stupid reason, probably because of my freak out about his eyes just hours before I went to bed. I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose.

"You okay?" I look over towards him, giving him a weak smile. He nodded his head, and I was glad that he seemed to understand and not press it further.

It seemed to take forever for our flight to take off. And it seemed even longer for us to arrive in California, which I spent nodding in and out of sleep and staring aimlessly out the window. At some point during the trip, my hand slipped through Gustav's, our fingers intertwined. He didn't let go until it was time for us to climb off the plane.

It was 6:45 in the evening when we stepped into the airport terminal, but it felt like 9:45 due to the damn jet lag. I shift my bag on my shoulder when I see a familiar face run towards me.

"Nora!" I stare in shock as I see my younger adoptive sister running towards me. Tears gather in my eyes, and I bend down to my sisters level. She runs in my arms, and I grip her in a tight hug.

"Fifi, hi honey," I whisper, kissing her cheek. Her hair was just as unmanageable as it was just a few mere months ago when I saw her last. I saw my biological sister run towards me, and I give her a hug and a kiss as well. "Hey there, Anna-banana," I choke, my voice cracking.

"Nora, baby!"

I look up, and there I see my mom.

She looked worse for wear, to put it nicely. I could visibly see that she had lost some weight, and she had dark bags beneath her eyes. But even with all of this, I could still see and feel the mom that I grew up with. She trotted up to me, and I collapsed into her arms, letting out a small cry.

"Mom," I whimpered, giving her a giant squeeze. I felt her sob against me, and that only made me cry harder. "I'm home, mom. I'm home."

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twenty-second Embarrassment, END


	24. Chapter 23

Twenty-third Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

After Nora had hugged her family hello, she finally turned back towards me. She gave me a smile, and she blushed a little bit as she gingerly took my hand.

"Mom," she started, smiling a little bit. "This is Gustav. He is the guy I met through World or Warcraft and who I hung out with a lot in Germany. He came to Massachusetts to help me out after I left Germany," she explained. Her mother nodded, and she gave me a small smile.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Gustav," she said, holding her hand out to me. I firmly grasped it, giving her a smile. "I can't thank you enough for helping out my daughter and taking care of her in Germany," she said. I couldn't help but notice a few stray tears leak from her eyes, and she sigh. "Oh, look at me, I'm a mess. Come on girls, and boy," she said laughing a little bit. I heard Nora and her sisters join in, and I couldn't help but smile a little bit with them, somewhat awestruck. Here was a family who lost a father and husband less than a week ago, and they were still laughing and smiling unforced. It felt like Nora was taking her fathers death the hardest, but even now she seemed to be better. I mentally shrugged, going along with the flow.

At some point I felt her hand slip from mine, my hand replaced with Anna's, her other occupied with that of Fifi. They smiled a little bit, and I even heard them laugh a little bit. It was shocking to see this change in her, and I was wondering why I couldn't make her that happy.

"She's a trooper, isn't she?" I jumped a little bit as I heard Nora's mom come up behind me. "I'm afraid I never really did introduce myself," she said, and I laughed a little. "My name is Rebecca," she said, and I smiled.

"It's great to meet you," I said in my best English. She smiled at me.

"Would German be better for you?" she asked, and I waved my hand.

"It's fine," I told her. "This will give me a chance to work on my English skills." She nods in understanding. We walk in silence for a little bit towards the baggage claim. "How has my daughter been?" she asked me, and I breathe in.

"She been okay. She's been taking her fathers death really hard." Rebecca nods, a pained look on her face. "The day he died, the day I came and yesterday were the worst," I tell her, and she looks at me confused.

"Why yesterday?" I grimaced, mentally scolding myself for mentioning that.

"Yesterday she said that she couldn't get his eyes out of her mind," I said softly. "She said that she couldn't get the picture of his eyes being taken, along with his other organs, out of his body. She wouldn't really say much, but whatever it was it really freaked her out, she ended up throwing up." I see Rebecca purse her lips together, letting out a long breath. She closes her eyes for a moment, a tear rolling down. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything," I said, feeling guilty. Nora's mom shakes her head, and she opens her eyes.

"No, no your fine, honey. I just feel awful that I couldn't be there for her... she was always very attached to Mark. Ever since she was a little girl, she was a total daddy's girl." I watch as Rebecca smiles fondly at some memory. By now we had reached the baggage claim, and I could see suitcases and bags begin to spin on the conveyer belt. I came up to Nora and her sisters just as our bags came out onto the conveyer.

"Oh, I see you bag," Anna says, and Nora nods. She reaches for it, but I grab it before she even touches it. I easily sweep the bag off the belt, placing it on the ground next to her.

"Gustav, I could have grabbed it..." she says, and I smile.

"Yeah, you could've . But knowing you, you probably would have fallen onto the conveyer, and next thing we would know we would have to chase you down!" I heard Fifi Anna and their mom laugh at Nora, and Nora blushes to a light red.

"That is so true, Nora," Fifi says, and she glares at her sister. She continues to laugh, and soon I could see a smile crack on Nora's lips. Pretty soon, we were all laughing so hard that I missed my own bag, making it so that I had to run it down. I came back a little irritated, but when I saw Nora laughing on the verge of tears, I felt any irritation that I had felt melt away. I couldn't help but smile with her, especially after she had shed so many tears day before.

The car ride home was spent by me getting drilled again, though this time by Nora's innocent siblings. They asked me what kind of movies I liked, what kind of food, so on. It was much better than Diane's drilling, which consisted of her trying to uncover my "hidden pimp". Even though I don't like talking to people that much, I found it easy to talk to her sisters, possibly because they represented Nora so much, even Fifi. I asked Fifi about her previous home in south Africa, and she told me about her life there, about her previous parents and how her father had given her up after her mother had died of AIDS. She told me that he had wanted to keep her with him, but he couldn't raise her. I began telling her about the AIDS shirt that Bill designed, and I could tell that it meant a lot to her, even though she was so young. She asked me about the band, and I told her about Bill, Tom and Georg. I talked to her about Germany, and she and Anna showed me their German. They made a lot of mistakes, but I was still able to understand them. It was amazing at just how much they knew, but yet again with Nora and their late father being fluent in German, it wasn't too surprising. Suddenly, Nora turned around in her seat.

"Fifi," she said, and she turned towards her sister. "Jy het vertel Gustav oor hierdie?" My jaw dropped a slightly as I stared at Nora, who gave me a shy smile. I turned towards Fifi, who had a smile that practically took up her entire face.

"Nee, nog nie, maar ek dink dat hy nou weet..." she turns back towards me, and she laughs. "I also speak Afrikaans, it's my native language. I spoke it when I still lived in Africa, and I learned English in the factories and such. Then they started teaching me German, and I'm teaching them Afrikaans at the same time," she explained.

"Dit is baie moeilik om," Anna said, carefully saying the sentence. I looked at Nora.

"You never told me that," I said, bewildered. She laughed, turning back in her seat. On either side of me, Anna and Fifi laughed, exchanging small phrases back an forth in Afrikaans.

We got home pretty soon afterwards. Anna and Fifi helped with our bags and Nora led the girls inside. Rebecca showed me the guest bedroom that I would be sleeping in, across the hall from Nora's room. As much as I wanted to collapse right at that moment, Nora and I were called to dinner. It was spaghetti and meatballs. I could see Nora's face light up when she saw the diner that her mom had made, and she smiled.

"It's my favorite," she said softly, and she eagerly sat down at her chair, immediately digging in. I heard her moan as she took a bite, and she closed her eyes. "Oh gosh, mom, I forgot how amazing your cooking is," she said, and her family laughed at her. I twirled the pasta around my fork, and I hungrily took a bite.

I personally don't think I've tasted food like this since I last had dinner with my mom. The pasta seemed to melt in my mouth, and the meatballs weren't dry or overcooked. I hadn't tasted sauce like this before either, it was a pure perfection.

"Oh wow," I said, swallowing my mouthful of pasta. I looked up at Rebecca, who had a concerned look on her face. "This pasta is amazing," I say, and she smiles. It reminded me a lot of my own mothers smile.

"That's great, I'm glad that you like it, " she says, and I hear Anna and Fifi laugh.

"Mom's cooking is the best," Anna says through a mouthful of meatball. Rebecca gives her a sideways glare, reminding her to chew with her mouth closed.

"Yeah, mom could take on Julia Child any day," Fifi finished for her sister. Nora and I couldn't help but laugh at them.

"It's really true," Nora started, finishing up her current mouthful. "Mom is an amazing cook, I wish that I had even half of her talent," she said, and we all laugh. I continued to eat my pasta, listening to the conversation that was going on at the table. It was really surprising, despite having lost someone very important to them, they continued to laugh and smile as a family. But, I could tell that there was a certain light missing from their laughter, a certain spark that I'm sure was there before. I finished eating my pasta, and before I knew it Nora and I were being whisked away to bed.

I was lying in the bed in the guest bedroom. I had woken up to something, and at the moment I couldn't go back to sleep. I was tired, but my mind wouldn't settle down.

Suddenly, I heard a cry from across the hall. I immediately sat up, and carefully tip-toed to the door. I peeked out, and I heard another cry come from where Nora's room was. I tip-toed over, knocking softly on her door.

"Nora," I called softly. I heard a stumble, and next thing I knew she had her arms wrapped around my chest. I could feel her shaking against me, and I wrapped my arms around her, kissing the top of her head. "Shhh, your okay, your okay," I soothed her, stroking her head. She nodded dumbly, still not letting go.

"Don't leave me," she whispered, and I looked down at her a little surprised. "I'm scared. I don't want to be left alone in the dark." I nodded in agreement, hugging her closer to me.

At some point we worked our way back to her bed. She got back underneath the covers as I closed her door, and I quietly trotted my way back to her. I climbed in next to her, wrapping my arm around her. I felt her tiny hand grasp mine, trembling. I wasn't sure completely what she was so afraid of, but whatever it was I wish I could make it all go away. I nestled my face closer to her, unconsciously pressing my lips against her hair. I heard her sigh, nestling herself closer to me.

"I love this," she whispered, and I felt my heart skip a beat. "When you lay like this next to me," she continued. "It makes feel safe. It makes me feel like everything is okay."

As her breathing evened out into a steady rhythm, I found my own eyes begin to droop until, finally, I fell asleep with Nora, her fingers still wrapped around mine.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twenty-third Embarrassment, END


	25. Chapter 24

Twenty-fourth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

We ended up cremating my dad. Or more of, what was left of my dad.

My mom had called the organ people telling them to leave my dad's eyes in. They had grumbled and groaned, but they agreed to keep my dad's eyes in his skull. When I head this, something inside me settled for some reason, and I no longer had the autopsy nightmares that had haunted me for the past week.

We had a nice memorial service for daddy, too. It was more of a party, but it was similar to the ones that people have after a funeral... only we didn't have a funeral. After an hour I lost track of how many people gave me their condolences.

Gustav didn't come to the service. My mom had invited him and I asked for him to come, but he said that it wouldn't feel right. He never got to meet my dad. He said that he wanted to give me the chance to see other people and to spend some family time. I found that I couldn't argue to him about that. He said that he would go out and look around, seeing as is he doesn't come to America everyday.

Despite the service being about my dad, it was actually pretty fun. I saw a lot of people here that I haven't seen in a long time, mostly colleagues of my dad, even my dads boss. Some nurses that knew my dad really well came, too. It was great to see how many people loved my dad and how many people would miss him. The service allowed for a sort of family reunion or sorts as well, giving Fifi, Anna and I a chance to see relatives that we normally would never see. After the service, we drove home in a comfortable silence. When we got home, Gustav hadn't returned yet, and I wasn't too surprised. After all, we were in California.

"Hey girls," my mom called, and I looked up to where my mom was. "Come here, I have something to give you all." Feet pitter patter over into the living room, where my mom was sitting on a couch. In front of her, she has 4 small urns.

"Mom, is that..." I start, and she nods.

"Yes," she says, her eyes glossy. "These are your fathers ashes." A special kind of silence fills the room, and I sit uncomfortably in the Chase lounge. "Before he had his first stroke... he said that he wanted his ashes to be spread between the four of us. So thats what I did. So here, Anna," she said, handing Anna a small pink one. It had a picture of Anna and Dad on the front, and I held back my tears. "Fifi, honey," she said, handing Fifi her green one. Like Anna's, it had a picture of her and dad on the front. Mom looked up at me, and I felt tears slip down. I let out a shaky sigh, and I nodded. "Nora, baby," mom said softly. I shakily stood up, and I carefully grasped my urn. There, a picture of dad and I sat on the front, just like my sisters. It was before I went to college, and her was kissing my cheek, a smile hidden beneath it. I of course had a flushed face, and I looked like I was about to cry at any moment. I looked down at the plaque beneath the picture.

i_Mark James Bell_

_September 28 1960-November 18 2010_

_"...and remember, Nora-Badora. Breathe."/i_

I let out a small laugh as I saw my dad's all to famous words of advice to me. i_Breathe._/i I sat down on the chair, shakily wiping away my tears that were rapidly falling down.

"Th-Tha-" my voice cut out on me, and I took a deep breathe in. "Thank y-you, mom," I cry, and she nods her head. I hear Anna sniffle a little as she hugs her urn, and Fifi just stares absently at the picture, unable to imagine that our father was inside of it.

Eventually I made my way back to my room. I gingerly put my dad on my bed next to me, leaning him against a wall. I wrapped myself in the blanket that he gave me. I felt tears roll down my face, and I thought back to my dad.

i_"Dad," I started, and he looked over to me. We were lying down on the grass, looking up at the stars. The next day I would be going to college, and we were spending some last minute father-daughter quality time. "What's something that you want to do before you die?" I asked him. He sighed._

_"I would like to get a dinosaur tail..." he said, and I laughed. "Seriously?" he asked me, and I nodded. "Well, I would like to go to Germany again. I haven't been back there since I came to the states after college, and I do miss it there. I'd like to see my old house again, and such," he said, and I nodded._

_"We should go together then," I said, and he looks over at me. "I'm almost fluent," I told him, and he takes that into consideration. He turns back to the stars._

_"After college," he says, and I smile. I hold my hand out to him to shake it. He grasps it, shaking it. "We'll take the whole family," he said, and I raised my upper lip in disapproval. "If you don't get a B in math," he continues, and I smile giddily. _

_"Well, I guess I'll be working my ass off in math then," I sighed, and he laughed._

_"You bet'cha." We sat in silence for a little bit._

_"Maybe I'll go before hand and scout it out," I said. "That way I won't get hopelessly lost... just lost," I said with a smile, and he laughs./i_

I thought back to this conversation, and I suddenly had an idea come to mind. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. The more I thought dad would like it. I grabbed the urn, and I grabbed a light sweatshirt. I walked into the living room, and I found my mom still sitting on the table. I placed my urn on the kitchen counter before going in.

"Hey mom," I said softly, and she pulled herself out of her thoughts.

"Yeah honey," she asked, and I smiled.

"Can I borrow the car? I have some things to do."

When I got the car keys to my moms Toyota, I grabbed the urn and hurried out the door. I climbed into the drivers seat of the car, placing my dad in the passengers. "Gotta put on your seatbelt, dad," I murmured, clicking the seat belt on around the urn. I patted the top, clicking my own seatbelt in. "Now," I said, with a smile. I turned to ignition on, and I drove out of the driveway. "Let's see what we can do about that trip."

I hear a knock on my bedroom door, and I jerk myself out of my thoughts, my fingers still fiddling with the small glass vial that hung on a silver chain on my neck.

"Yeah?" I called. The door opened, and Gustav peeked in.

"Hey there," I said with a smile. I stretched my legs a little before bringing them up to my chest. Gustav joined me on the bed, sitting on the other side of the urn.

"Is this your dad?" he asks me, nodding to the urn. I nod.

"Yeah, thats him... same here," I said, holding up the small glass vial in my fingers. He nodded in understanding. I placed the vial down under my shirt, the cool glass making my skin tingle. I could feel my dads energy radiating off it, and it made me feel better.

"How was the service," he asked me, and I smile slightly.

"It was good, but listen to this," I said, and he turns to me expectantly. "I have an idea." He looked at me, waiting for me to continue. I smiled excitedly, feeling anticipation bubbling inside of me. "I want to go back to Germany."

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twenty-fourth Embarrassment, END


	26. Chapter 25

Twenty-fifth Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

"Honey, are you sure..." Rebecca asked Nora, and she nods.

"Yeah... it was something that dad and I planned out before I went to college," she said softly, and they all fall into a silence.

"Well, he did talk about going to Germany someday..." her mom says, and the entire family nods regrettably. She looks up at me. "Gustav, are you going with her?" she asks me, and I look at her in surprise.

"Well, I wasn't really planning on it..." I start.

"And I don't want to bother Gustav any more than needed..." Nora says, and her mom looks back at me with pleading eyes.

"Please, Gustav, go with her..." her mom asks me.

"Mom!" Nora complains, and she sends her daughter a glare.

"Nora, please," her mom begs her, and Nora sighs. I give her a smile and a nod.

"Absolutely," I say, and Nora's jaw drops.

"Gustav, please, I don't want you to waste any more of your vacation with me..." she starts, and I hold my hand up.

"Please. As long as you want me to come, I'll come. I would have nothing to do it I went home anyways, and it's been awhile since I've traveled Germany on my own. And besides," I say, and she looks up at me. "I need to keep you on track and not lost," I said, and she blushes.

"Yeah, I guess..." she says. I see her begin to fiddle with the vial of her dads ashes. She nods her head. "Okay, come along." I smile triumphantly, and Rebecca give a sigh of relief.

"When are you going to leave?" she asks, and Nora smiles.

"Tomorrow."

"Please be careful, honey," her mom says, and Nora nods. Her eyes were teary, but she had a smile on her face. In her backpack was her dad's urn, cushioned by her favorite blankets. The people at security were quite confused by it, but they didn't say anything. They respected it's contents, and let her pass.

As we settled down in our seats, Nora let out a soft sigh.

"I'm glad," she whispered, and I turned towards her, confused.

"Glad about what?" I asked. She looked over at me.

"That you're here, coming with me," she said, and I couldn't help but blush. She too, blushed to a deep red. I was beginning to notice that she was stuttering less with me, and I assumed that it was because she was used to being with me. It made me happy to realize this.

"I-Th-Thats good," I stutter, and she laughs.

"You're turning into me," she said, and I smile. She sighs, and when she rests her head on my shoulder, I felt like my heart might burst. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, and I leaned back in my seat, feeling oddly complete.

Her dad grew up on the outer edges of Dresden. We picked up our car at the airport, and I began driving us to the hotel. Nora had fallen asleep next to me in the car next to me with the urn in her arms, and the whole time we drove I listened to her breathing.

There is something comforting about a car. I've wanted to drive ever since I was little. To me, it was a sign of freedom, being able to do whatever I wanted. To many guys it was a sign of sex: I mean come on, how many people do you know loose their virginity or even have sex in the back of a car? But not to me. The feel of the steering wheel, it gave me a sense of power that I felt like I always needed.

When we got to the hotel, I turned off the car, and frost immediately began to cover the windows. I looked over at Nora, still sleeping. She looked so beautiful and peaceful sleeping, like everything was right. Her hair was falling out of it's ponytail, and it was falling on to her face. I gently pushed it back behind her ear. It's then I noticed that she had a cute little mole on her jawbone, the light from the parking lot lamps highlighting it. Her brown wool turtleneck shirt made her eyes seem bluer back in the airplane, and it added some color to her face. I sighed, and I regrettably woke her up.

"Hey, Nora," I said, and she immediately woke up.

"Huh? Are we there yet?" she said, and I laughed.

"Yeah, we're here," I told her, and she nodded. She grabbed her backpack and we both got out of the car. We went to the trunk and grabbed our suitcases, and after we closed the trunk of the car we went to check in at the hotel. The clerk at the desk nodded and gave us our keys, and it seemed to be forever before we actually got to the hotel room. When I opened the door and finally collapsed on the bed, it felt like heaven.

"Ugh, this feels great,"I murmur, and Nora laughs. She unearths her toiletry bag and starts to brush her teeth.

"You going to brush your teeth?" Nora asks, and I groan.

"Maybe. I really don't want to move," I grumble. I hear her laugh.

"Thats fine, just wondering," she says, and I smile. I hear her turn off the faucet and start rummaging through something. I sit up, and I see her put on a sweatshirt.

"Where are you going?" I ask her, and she jumps a little.

"Oh, nowhere," she says. "I just want to spread a little bit of my dads ashes, thats all," she says, and I nod. "You stay here, I'll be right back, okay?" she says, and I agree.

"Don't get lost," I say, and she laughs.

"Very funny," she says, and I couldn't help but smile. She grabs her room key and walks out of the hotel room. I decided to brush my teeth after all, and after I was done I slipped into my pajamas. Then I went out to the balcony. I hear someone down below me, and to my surprise I see that it's Nora.

"You would be really happy right now, dad," I hear her say, and I stay deathly silent. "We are in Dresden, your home town... we are going to your old house tomorrow. Who is the other person? Oh, well, it's Gustav... he's... he's..." I hold my breathe as I hear my name, and I listen more closely. "He's amazing. He is really sweet and kind, and he looks out for me. He has this cute smile and he's always there when I need him. I..." I hear her pause. "I really like him," she says quietly, and I blush to what I'm sure is a deep red. "You would really like him too, dad." I watch as she pops open the urn, and she scoops out a small handful of his ashes. The wind was blowing softly, and I could faintly see her hair dance delicately in the wind, despite it being pitch black. Then, slowly, she opened up her hand.

It was a trickle at first, but ever so slowly I could see ashes begin to pour out of her hand, being carried by the wind. It reminded me of the way sand would fall out of your hand on a windy day at the beach, like a ribbon being pulled out of a magic hat. But you could recollect a ribbon. Nora couldn't recollect her dads ashes.

It only took a few seconds for the ashes to stop flowing out of her hand, and when the ashes stopped falling she closed the top of the urn. With a sigh, she slowly walked back into the hotel. When I saw her disappear into the hotel, I climbed into my bed, her last words echoing in my head.

i_I... I really like him_/i

What did 'really like' mean? Did it just mean that she really liked me as a friend, or did she like me past friendship? I have never felt so haunted by words before as I was then at that moment. I was so caught up in my thoughts that when she slowly opened the door I jumped.

"Scare you a little?" she asked, and I laughed stiffly.

"Just a little," I said, and she smiled. She put her dad's ashes on the bedside table, and I watched as she went to the closet to get a extra blanket. She ripped the quilt off of the hotel bed, and I looked at her in confusion as I watched her lay out the spare blanket.

"What's wrong with the quilt?" I asked.

"Oh, I just don't trust it," she says simply. "I know in America house keeping washes the sheets every time, but not the quilts... you can never know just who had the quilt before you, and what happened on that quilt, since most likely it hasn't been washed lately. She climbs into her bed, giving me a smile. "Can I turn off the light?" she asked, and I nodded. She turned off the light, but not before I looked at my quilt in quite a suspicious manner.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twenty-fifth Embarrassment, END


	27. Chapter 26

Twenty-sixth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

"You sure this is it?" Gustav asks me, and I give a nervous nod. I couldn't help but feel a pit of sadness in my stomach as I looked at the lot. My father's old childhood home lay in ruins, burnt wood, charcoal, and firemen cleaning up everywhere. I carefully step out, and I see a fireman walk up to me.

"What can I do for you?" he asks me. The smell of smoke was almost overwhelming here, and I coughed a little bit.

"I was wondering if I could go up to the house," I said, and he raised an eyebrow at me. I held up the urn. "These are my fathers ashes," I said, coughing a little more. "I want to spread some of them here, this was his childhood home," I managed. The fireman gave me an understanding look, and told me to wait. As he went over to his chief, I put the scarf up to my nose and mouth to help cover up the smell of smoke. When he came back I put it down.

"You may go over, but at your own risk. Please be careful of the burt wood, it could break at any moment," he warns, and I nod understandingly. I take off my gloves and roll my jacket up. I open the car door, and I place the urn on the seat. Gustav gave me a curious look.

"They said I can go on over... I'll be back in a moment," I told him.

"You want any help?" he asks as he unbuckles. I watch as he closes the door behind him, and I raise my eyebrow at him.

"Do I have much of a choice now," I ask him, and he smiles.

"No, not really." I give a small laugh, and I carefully open the urn.

Dad's ashes felt similar to when you dip your hand in flour. It had a sort of silky feel to it, and it made you just want to bury your hand and leave it in there for forever. I grabbed a small handful, and with my other hand I closed the urn. I began to walk towards the burt house as Gustav closed the car door, quickly catching up with me. I cautiously step over a burnt beam, being careful not to trip here. I feel Gustav grab my elbow to help support me: I had started to teeter over. I breathed a sigh of relief, and I started walking a little further. Around me, I could hear the firemen whisper amongst themselves as I make my way through the rubble to the center. With Gustav supporting me, I slowly open up my hand.

A sort of sorrow filled me as I felt dads ashes slowly drift away from me, some of them falling to the ground, others floating away from a slight breeze that suddenly picked up. As I let go of dad's ashes, I swear that I could hear him sigh, like he would after he ate dinner or did something satisfying.

i_"That was good..."_

_"I know, wasn't it?"_/i

The last bits of dust slipped through my fingers, and I let out a soft sigh. I felt Gustav squeeze my shoulders, and I smiled. I turned to him, giving him a nod. He helped me down from the beam I was standing on, and I carefully made my way back to the car. I gave my thanks to the firemen, and they carefully began picking away at the ruble again. I watched them for a moment before getting into the warm comfort of the car.

Gustav and I drove in silence for awhile.

We had decided to drive around randomly. We found a small mountain road and started driving up it, and we couldn't help but laugh as we went around the curves dangerously fast. At some point, Gustav slowed down a little bit, and I grabbed a small handful of dads ashes. I stuck my hand out into the freezing air, and I slowly let my dad fall out of my hand. I felt a tear roll down my face, and I see Gustav look at me worriedly.

"Are you sure you want to spread your dads ashes? You don't have to, you know," he says gently, and I shake my head.

"No, no, I want to. I have this vial with his ashes... thats enough for me. He would have wanted this," I said, and Gustav nods. "And besides," I whisper as I close my eyes, and he glances over at me. "The only way to move on is to let go." I open my hand fully, feeling the rest of my dads ashes fall away. One more tear rolls slowly down my face, though it was a mixture of sadness and happiness.

"Just gotta let go."

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twenty-sixth Embarrassment, END


	28. Chapter 27

Twenty-seventh Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

We didn't say much the car ride home from her dad's old house. It's not like we couldn't think of anything to say or it was awkward, but more of we just felt comfortable being with each other and not really having to do or say something. Simply being in each others presence was enough.

Like before, when we reached the hotel, I opened her door for her. She would blush and then thank me, sliding carefully out of the car, always holding tightly onto the urn. With each day that passed I could feel her getting happier, slowly becoming the Nora that I had fallen in love with. We walked up to the hotel, still in silence.

When we got to the hotel, it was still pretty early in the afternoon, but Nora said that she wanted to take a nap, and to be honest the idea of a nap didn't sound to bad. She went to the bathroom to slip on some sweatpants, and I did the same. When she comes back out, I'm already spread out on my bed. She turns off the lights, and I hear her slide in the bed. Laying there, it felt like the bed was twice the size as it should be.

"He-Hey, Gustav," I heard her murmur. I turned towards her.

"Yeah?"

"Can... can you, um, will you..." I felt myself sit up a little, curious and slightly worried. "Will you hold me?" she finally said, though she said it so softly that I almost didn't hear it. I felt my heart jump, and felt my cheeks heat up a little. I slipped out of my bed, and I walked blindly over to hers. I carefully climbed on to the top, and I felt the scratchy sheets rub against me. I hear her breath catch as my leg accidently brushes up against hers, and I couldn't help but blush. Almost awkwardly, I laid down next to her, and I wrapped my arm around hers. I felt her hand grasp mine, and I smiled. Slowly, our stiff bodies relaxed and melted against the others until it felt like we were laying against a soft blanket. Slowly, our breathing began to even out, it became hard to keep my eyes open, until finally, we fell asleep.

"So, where next?" I asked her, and she pulled out her map.

"Leipzig," she said, and I nodded. "I thought that we would slowly make our way up to Hamburg again," she said, and I smiled.

"Sounds like a plan," I said, and she smiled. As I started the car, I couldn't help but glance at her out of the corner of my eye. Her skin seemed to glow under the rare sunlight, and her hair seemed brighter. She looked beautiful.

Ever since yesterday when we went to go take a nap and we fell asleep together, it felt like there was a sort of barrier broken. It is weird, because we have fallen asleep together several times, but this was the first time that didn't have some sort of reason behind it except for the fact that we just wanted to. Ever since that, thing felt different. Not a bad different, just... i_different_/i.

Bill, Tom, Georg, Heidi and Diane were all ecstatic to see Nora again. Nora would be flying back with Diane, just like they had originally planned, and Nora got back in contact with her school, letting them know this.

I came on the highway ramp, and I started following the signs towards Leipzig. We stopped at some random sight seeing sights, like a couple look outs and such. Each time, Nora would spread a little bit of her dad so that way he would be everywhere that we were. She was beginning to run out of ashes.

Nora was okay with that.

"That sounds like a great idea Bill," I say, and he excitedly chatters away on the other end of the phone. I glance out of the side of my eye to keep an eye on Nora; I wanted to keep this a surprise for her. I see her finish up her purchase, and I hurriedly get off the phone with Bill. Right when I get off the phone Nora reaches me.

"You didn't have to get off," she says guiltily.

"It's fine, they had to go anyway," I say smoothly, and she nods. "What did you get?" I ask her, and she smiles.

"I got some postcards and a couple snacks," she said, and I laughed. "What, I'm hungry!" I couldn't help but keep smiling as she munched on some of the candy that she had just bought. She offered me some, and I eagerly took it.

Right now we were in Magdeburg, Germany. We would be spending the night here, and then the next day we would be going to Berlin. We would be staying in Berlin for a day or two before heading to Hamburg, stopping in hotels as we saw fit. It was a long trip, but so far we were having a ton of fun, even though the occasion that brought us together like this was her fathers death.

It was late when we reached a hotel, close to the border of Brandenburg, our next stop. We grabbed our suitcases and went up to our room.

We reached our room quietly, and we settled into our familiar routine. Nora started getting spare blankets and ripping the quilts off of the beds. I would unpack the toiletries and such, and by the time I was finished she would be ready to get changed for bed. We would switch spots: she would occupy the bathroom, and I would get dressed in the room. I would tell her that she would be good to enter, and when she was ready she would come out in her usual sweat pants and tank top. She would then smile shyly at me, and then we would brush out teeth. When it was time to climb into bed, we would somehow end up together, our fingers intertwined together and our bodies pressed up close together. She would always fall asleep before me, and I would just breathe her in, loving the way she smelled and felt against me. I would absorb so much of her that when I fell asleep, she would have completely and utterly overwhelmed my senses to the point of going crazy. And I loved every single moment of it.

"We'll be there in 3 more days," I told Bill, and he murmurs in understanding. Nora was out getting some essentials: toothpaste, snacks for the car, liquids, so on and so forth. It gave me the chance to see how Bill was going on at home.

"Diane and I are getting everything ready now... we got some awesome food already, and we've cleaned up your apartment. Heidi is working on the other stuff, I haven't seen what she's planned yet though," he said, and I smiled. That Heidi. For all we know, she could have bought out the entire store with everything she would buy. I see Nora head up to the cashier, and I wrap up my conversation.

"Sounds good," I tell him, and I could hear him smile proudly on the other end. "Listen, I gotta go, Nora is coming back. Text me with how everything goes okay," I ask, and he agrees. I hang up my phone, and I turn the car back on just as Nora comes back out side. She shows me a king-sized candy bar along with a huge bag of skittles, and I couldn't help but laugh. She slipped into the car, throwing the candy bar onto my lap. I gave her my thanks, and she nodded. She began nibbling on her own candy bar, small little bites. I took a large mouthful of my candy bar, and I started driving us towards Brandenburg.

Behind me, I could make out the faint grey ribbon of ashes.

"Wow," Nora breathes, and I nod in agreement. Sure, I've been here several times before, but every time I came here it was different each time. It's so intense," she says, and I nod.

The Brandenburg Gate.

Although it happened 20 years ago, you could still see some remnants of the once mighty wall. Small bits of wire and brick lay on the ground, and I watched as Nora walked right on top of some brick.

"20 years ago," she started, "there was a wall right here." She carefully hopped off the brick, and she carefully scooped out some of her fathers ashes. She began walking alongside the invisible line where years ago, a wall stood. A small trickle of ashes fell out of her hand as she walked, and they immediately were blown away in the wind. I walked along side her, and when she had released all of her dads ashes, we continued walking. We walked and walked for awhile, just talking, laughing, sightseeing. We got some lunch at a nice little pub before we started walking back to the car.

When we finally reached out hotel, we were so tired from all of our traveling and walking that we just collapsed on a bed. Once again, Nora curled up next to me, and we fell asleep with her scent washing over me like a wave.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twenty-seventh Embarrassment, END


	29. Chapter 28

Twenty-eighth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

One of the best feelings in the world is falling asleep in the arms of someone you love. But thats only the second best feeling. The best feeling in the world is waking up in their arms, because then you know that they stayed with you all night long, and they never left you. You know that they were by your side.

I think I usually wake up before Gustav. I like to lay there with his arm around me and listen to him breathe. I like the way that his breathe feels against my skin, the way that it tickles my senses and washes over me. I love the way that his skin feels against mine, so soft and warm. I like the way his muscles twitch every once in awhile and I love how I can feel that against me. It makes everything so real to me that it drives me insane.

These are my favorite moments with Gustav. Sure, I like going out with him and driving and talking to him, but neither of us are huge talkers normally. These are all fun and I enjoy every second of those, but when we lay together like this it's something else. It's magical and perfect, like the world stops and it's just us, and this room in the beauty of it all.

I let my thumb slowly stroke his hand. His palms were calloused from countless hours of drumming, and when those rough callouses surrounded my scarred hands, it felt so right and perfect that it was almost sickening. At some point, I felt the grip on my hand tighten, and I hear him breathe in sharply. I couldn't help but smile, a blush forming on my cheeks.

"H-Hey, " I said, and he shifts. I feel his nose brush against my shoulder, and my heart jumped to my throat when I felt his lips press against my neck. My blush deepened, my blood thundering in my ears. i_Shut up shut up shut up/i_ I willed my heart, but sadly it seemed more interested in getting mass amounts of blood to my face. I heard Gustav breathe in slowly, and his grip around my body tightened. Any gap between us was closed, my back pressed up to his chest, and his leg brush up against mine. I felt our limbs slowly tangle together automatically, and I was starting to think that my heart was literally going to explode. I tried my best to keep my breathing even as I felt him nuzzle my neck.

"Hey, Nora," he whispered. A chill ran down my spine as his voice tickled my skin, and I bit my lip to keep myself from squeaking. I shut my eyes for a second, trying to focus only on Gustav. My body began to melt more against his, beginning to relax against his body, and my breathing began to even out. My blush began to settle down, but I could still feel that the tips of my ears were warm. A smile bloomed on my face, and I closed my eyes.

I love you, Gustav. I really do. I just wished that I could say it out loud.

My fingers brushed against the cool ceramic of the inside bottom of the urn, a mixture of emotions filling me. I couldn't really pinpoint them, and I honestly didn't know how exactly I did feel about it. I was okay with it, but it was also like giving up an old childhood toy; you know you don't need it, but you want to keep it close to you anyways. I closed the urn, and I placed it back on the floor of the car between my feet patting the top before sitting up completely. Beside me, Gustav was intensely driving.

"Do you want me to drive?" I offered, and I shook his head.

"No, we are almost home... which by the way," he started. "I was thinking of visiting my parents before heading home, would you be okay with that? I could show you around my old town too," he asks me. I smiled, nodding my head.

"Yeah, thats totally fine. I would actually really like to meet your parents. And I thought you grew up in Magdeburg," I asked, and he smiled.

"I did... but a different part of it. On the opposite end, actually. We would have to drive through it to get home, so I thought why not." I nodded in understanding, and my eyes picked up a sign. We were only 30 miles away.

We drove on. It was early in the day, only about 9:00. We originally would have made it back to his apartment by around 1:00 PM, but with this detour I was guessing we would be back in the early evening.

We reached Magdeburg in no time at all, and immediately Gustav began pointing things out to me.

"Thats where this old arcade used to be, but it burned down pretty soon after our first tour," he said, pointing to a small cafe. "I haven't been to the cafe yet because we got so famous that it really isn't possible." he smiled at that, almost a little sadly. "It's nice being well known," he said as he drove through the town. "But I miss being able to walk down the streets of my childhood, you know?" I nodded in a somewhat understanding, I at least knew what it felt like to miss walking in my hometown. He made a right hand turn to the outer edges of town. He reaches across me, pointing out the window. "That's my old high school," he said, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"It's so small!" I said, and he smiled.

"It's a small town," he replied back.

"Mine had 15,000 people in it," I told, him and he looked at me in shock.

"That's huge!" he gasped, and I laughed.

"It's California, what did you expect?" I asked him, and he shrugged. We drove past the school slowly, and Gustav started telling me about his childhood a little. He told me about how Georg and him knew each other before they met the twins, how they had met them in a small bar. "I was wondering who those weird people were on stage!" he said, and I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Back then they were still called Black Question Mark, whoever came up with that name is beyond Georg and I," he said, laughing. "Yes, Bill and Tom... they are a funny pair," he chuckled, making a left turn. "Even when they were 12."

He drove around some more, pointing out certain buildings and places to me. He showed me his favorite hang out spots when he was little, and at one point he drove past he old childhood home. His parents had moved him and his sister to another house when he was 9. As we got closer and closer to his parents house, I couldn't help but feel more and more nervous. I pushed up my glasses nervously.

It was 11:00 by the time we reached his parents house. He excitedly unbuckled his seatbelt, and I carefully undid my own. He did a quick scan outside for paparazzi before opening the door. I slowly slid out of the car, making sure that my dad's urn was right-side up. I fingered the vial of my dads ashes nervously.

"Come on," he called, and I nodded nervously. He saw this, and he gave me a comforting smile. "Don't worry, my parents will love you," he said, and I nodded my head again. It didn't really calm my nerves. Which makes me think... why i_was_/i I so nervous?

I stuck close to Gustav as we walked up the driveway. I could see the cobblestone underneath the light layer of snow, and to my right there was a small front yard, with a variety of plants. We didn't even reach the front door when it was thrown open, and a body threw itself at Gustav.

"Gustav!" the girl shrieks, and I jump at her sudden presence. Gustav shouts in surprise, but when he realizes who the girl was he laughs, giving her a big hug.

"Hey there, Francezska," he tells her, and I couldn't help but smile. She has his blonde hair and wasn't much shorter than he was. She was skinny and I could see her strong muscles flex under her skin as she hugged Gustav; I could tell that she worked out. When she pulled back, I saw that she had his creamy brown eyes that I had come to love, her cheeks rosy from the cold air. I saw another form come to the door, this time an older woman.

"Gustav!" she calls, and Gustav's face lights up.

"Mom!" His mom comes trotting out of the house, immediately clutching on to her son. She kisses him multiple times before letting go, turning to me.

"And you," she says, walking over to me. "Must be little miss Nora," she marvels, and I nod shyly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I say, and she smiles at me.

"Oh, don't be so formal," she tuts, and I couldn't help but smile. She takes hold of my hand, giving it a squeeze. Her eyes meet mine, full of a sincere sorrow. "Gustav told me what happened to your dad," she said, and I felt my heart fall a little bit. I see Gustav give his mom an annoyed look before glancing worriedly at me. "I am so very sorry for your loss," she said, and I nodded.

"Thank you very much, I am doing much better than I was before. Gustav has been a real big help to myself and my family," I told her, and she smiled. I could see Gustav blush.

"It was nothing, really," he mutters, and we all laugh. Gustav's mom turns back to me, a smile all over her face.

"Well, you can call me Claudia," she said, and I nodded.

"Thank you, Claudia," I said, and she nodded.

She guided Gustav, Francezska-who turned out to be his little sister- and I back into the house. Francezska was 19 years old, and while she wasn't in college at the moment, she said that she planned to go soon. Gustav of course looked at his sister like she was crazy, and I couldn't help but smile at them. I was hustled into the dinning room where Claudia had already prepared lunch. Everything looked so good, and I was excited to try the food that was out in front of me. I sat down next to Gustav and followed his actions by serving myself up. When I began eating, I wanted to cry it was so good. Maybe I was too used to fast food, but it tasted like my moms cooking. It made me realize how much I mussed my family.

"This is delicious," I exclaimed, and Claudia blushed a little. "Really, this is amazing, it reminds me of my moms cooking," I said, and she laughed. Gustav smiled as well, nodding his head in agreement.

The rest of lunch was spent getting to know Francezska and Claudia. Gustav's dad was away and I wouldn't be able to meet him, which I was a little bummed about. I taught Francezska some English words, and when I told them that I am semi-fluent in Afrikaans, they demanded that I teach them some. I ended up teaching Gustav some of the Afrikaans as well, and I couldn't help but laugh at him as he tried to pronounce the words.

Talking with his family, I couldn't help but feel like I was home.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twenty-eighth Embarrassment, END


	30. Chapter 29

Twenty-ninth Embarrassment

**bGUSTAV:/b**

I couldn't help but feel like I was showing Nora off when I brought her to meet my family.

Nora and Francezska got along really well. Yet again, Nora could probably get along with just about anyone, but thats not the point. She genuinely seemed to like my baby sister.

At some point Francezska brought Nora up to her room to show her something, and I began to help my mom with the dishes, despite her trying to shoo me away.

"Nora is such a sweetheart, I can see why you like her," she said, and I felt my ears grow hot. I didn't say anything, but my mom smiles anyway. "Ah, I knew it," she said, and I couldn't help but let a small smile escape my lips. "Have you told her yet?" She asks me, and I almost drop the plate that I was drying. Flustered, I put it down before I actually dropped it. My mom laughed at my clumsiness, gently nudging me.

"No, I-I haven't," I stammered, not trying to hide the fact that I did like her. My mom knew everything about me it seems, I have never been successful in hiding anything from her. She nods her head in understanding.

"Thats understandable, with her dad and everything, it would be to much for her," she said, and I nodded. "She doesn't seem as sad as I thought she would be though," she commented, and I thought about this for a moment. This was indeed true: Nora almost seemed back to her old self. Every once in awhile she would get depressed, but it would pass after a few hours or so. I could tell that she was sad, but it wasn't weighing her down.

"Yeah, she isn't..." I murmured, trying to figure this out. I was now curious as to why she was moving on so fast.

"I think," my mom started, and I looked at her. "It's because of you," she said smiling. I rolled my eyes at her. "I'm serious, Gustav! From what I gather she really likes being around you, I think you've helped her tremendously." I stopped drying the dish that I had, staring absently at the creamy white glass. I felt my mom place her hand on my shoulder, rubbing my back in slow, smooth circles. "Don't let her escape, okay? I like her," she said, kissing my cheek. "Tell her when both you and her are ready." I nodded my head picking up the plate I had put down. I put it away just in time for her to hand me another.

"Be sure to visit again soon, okay?" My mom tells me, kissing my cheek. I kiss her back, then turn to my sister. I give her a big hug, promising to send her postcards when I went on tour. I turn to Nora, who is wrapped in a hug from my mom. I see my mom whisper something in her ear, and when Nora pulls back she winks at her. Curious and slightly worried, I watched Nora's expression to see if I could get a hint of what she said. Sadly, I didn't get much off of that.

"Bye Claudia, thank you so much for having me over," Nora says shyly, and my mom smiles, telling her that it was no problem. I check my watch, and I see that we were running a little late. I gently nudge Nora, and she understands. Waving one last time to my mom and sister, we make our way back to the car. I hurriedly turn on the ignition, and we begin to drive off.

We had spent more time at my parents house than I had expected. My dad came home, which I was glad that I was able to see him before I left. Like mom, he also really liked Nora. We didn't have a chance to talk very much since he had gone up to take a nap, but I was able to see and talk with him, and for me that was enough. By the time we had left, it was 7:10, and we supposed to leave 10 minutes ago. I was never going to hear the end of this from Bill.

"So, why are we going to your apartment?" she asks, and I grimace a little. I was hoping that she wouldn't ask that.

"You, uh..." I think frantically for an answer. "You left something," I said finally, and her eyes widen.

"Is it my red hat?" She asks, and I freeze. i_Wait, did she actually leave something?_/i I take a moment to think, and it's then I realize that yes, she did indeed leave her red hat at my apartment. It was on my coffee table. I nod my head.

"Yeah, your hat..." I murmur, and she breathes out in relief.

"Oh thank God, I thought I had lost it!" she said, leaning back in her seat. I couldn't help but smile.

We drove in silence for a little bit, though after awhile we talked about my family. She asked me about my dad, what he did and such. She asked about Francezska and what she wanted to do, and I told her everything that I knew. Before we knew it, we had reached the neighborhood of my apartment, and it was completely dark. We made pretty good time, only a few minutes late. I smiled.

"Come on, Nora," I called, and she smiled.

"What's the rush, we are just getting my hat!" she giggled, and I kept my mouth shut. When she finally climbed out of the car, I walked as normally as I could with her to my apartment. I shakily unlocked the door, excitement beginning to ooze out of me. With a huge smile on my face, I opened the door. Nora walked inside, and I turned on the lights. When she saw everything in front of her jumped.

Then, she shrieked.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Twenty-ninth Embarrassment, END


	31. Chapter 30

Thirtieth Embarrassment

**bNORA:/b**

"No way!" I shrieked, and Gustav laughed at me. There in his living room, Diane, Heidi and the rest of the Tokio Hotel crew were in chairs. When Diane saw me, she screamed, throwing herself at me. I stumbled, but even if I fell it wouldn't have mattered: Diane had lifted me off the ground.

"Surprise, Nora-Badora!" she squealed, and I felt tears pool in my eyes.

"Diane," I whispered, giving her a big hug. "Oh I've missed you so much," I whimpered, and she laughed. My feet touch the ground, and immediately after she lets me go I'm captured by Heidi and Georg. I laugh through my tears as Heidi gives me a kiss on my head. When they let me go Bill wraps me in his skinny arms, and I give him a hug back. By the time I had finished hugging everyone I had tears rolling down my face and I was smiling so much I swear I am going to need a grin-ectomy. Pretty soon I was swept away from the front door and to the couch, where Diane locked me in another hug. Gustav handed me a beer, and I clinked glasses with him and the rest of the crew.

"To Nora," Bill toasts, and I blush a deep red. "For her courage for getting through this hard time, and for coming back to Germany to see us all once again." Bill winks at me, and I let out a small giggle. I take a sip of my beer, the alcohol burning my throat. I cough, not used to drinking alcohol. Everyone laughs at me, and I blush once again. I take another sip, this time not coughing.

"You guys," I squeak, and they all turn towards me. "Are too good to me," I finish, and Tom smacks me on the back of the head. "Ouch!" I squeak, and Bill lets out a small snicker.

"Stop acting like you don't deserve this, idiot!" Tom says, and Diane punches him.

"Don't call my Nora an idiot, idiot!" She says, and Bill bursts out into laughing. "No sex for you tonight," she mutters, and Tom scowls at her. Georg and Bill are almost rolling on the ground laughing, and I couldn't help but let out a few giggles with them.

Seeing everyone again was great. Tom kept apologizing to Diane and tried to get her to change her mind, but she stayed firm to her threat. "I want to stay with Nora" was all she would say to him. Finally he let up and began to enjoy the party. Bill started to tease his brother about him getting owned by Diane, and finally Diane buckled down and gave him a kiss. I couldn't help but smile at them. We watched a bunch of movies and we caught up with each other. They had ordered pizza, and I greedily ate some. I was starving.

At some point, Gustav had slipped in next to me, and I leaned against him. I didn't even notice myself doing that, but next thing I know I was nestled in the crook of his shoulder.

It was 11:00 by the time we started wrapping things up. If Gustav and I weren't so tired the party would have lasted longer, but we were exhausted from our driving. I help Gustav pick up pizza boxes and plates before I left with Diane. She began gathering items and getting ready to leave as I helped Gustav with some of the dishes.

"Thank you," I said, and he looked over at me confused.

"For what?"

"For this, for the party," I said, and he smiled. "And for coming with me," I finished softly. I turned towards him, smiling. "It really means a lot to me, and I don't think that I would be nearly as okay as I am now if you hadn't." He blushes a little and scowls, but underneath I could see a smile poking through. I wash the last plate, and I put it down. Slowly, I walk over to him, a small blush forming on my face. Gustav turns towards me, and I wrap my arms around his neck in a hug. He wraps his arms around my mid section, giving the side of my head a kiss. My heart fluttered, and I blushed deeper. We stood there in a hug for a bit.

"Ahem," I heard someone said. We both jumped a little bit from the sound of Diane' voice, and Gustav and I let go of each other.

"See you tomorrow," I murmured.

"Yeah," he murmured back. I walked a little too fast over to Diane, who had the smile of the devil on her face. She giggled at me the entire ride home, and I attempted to shun her. I had to stop though by the time we reached the hotel; I had missed talking to her so much.

She helped me bring my luggage up the stairs, and almost immediately after we reached the hotel room I collapsed on the bed. Diane sat me up, and she started braiding my hair.

"So," she started as I yawned. "Did Gustav and you hook up?" she asked, and I blushed.

"O-Of course not!" I sputter, and Diane gives an exasperated sigh.

"You are so SLOW. God, Tom and I slept together the second time we saw each other..."

"But you two aren't dating," I pointed out, and she shrugged.

"True. But still. We are still fucking like rabbits!" she whispered excitedly. I was just about to faint.

"Diane..." I muttered, and she sighed.

"I know I know, to much info," she said, and I nodded my head. "Don't move your head!" she barked, and I squeaked. When she was done she got off the bed, and I patted my braided hair, smiling a little. It had been years since I had put my hair in braids. I let out another yawn, and she laughed.

"Come on, let's go to bed," she said, and I nodded happily. I slipped into my pajamas, and immediately when my head hit the pillow, I feel into sweet dreams.

**bW/b**hat b**O/b**bscure** bW/b**orlds!~Thirtieth Embarrassment, END


	32. Chapter 31

Thirty-first Embarrassment

**GUSTAV:**

I woke up on the couch.

I didn't remember how exactly I got to the couch, but I was there. Groaning, I slowly sat up, my back complaining and popping as it straightened out. I slowly made my way to the kitchen, and I was shocked to see that it was 10:00. I haven't slept this late in years. Deciding that this must be a good thing, I went and took a shower.

It was 10:30 by the time I was out, dressed, and eating brunch. I wasn't sure what I was going to do today, probably just hang out at home. I decided to get on the computer and play some World of Warcraft: I haven't played for a couple months. I played that for a couple hours, afterwards checking my email. Most of them were outdated, including one from my mother after the assault. I quickly deleted all of the spam mail and my mothers, opening ones that were relevant. By the time I was done, I had nothing left in my inbox, just how I liked it. It wasn't long after did I realize that I had absolutely nothing to do for the first time in weeks. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about that.

Christmas came up a lot faster than I thought it would. Nora and I came back from our road trip on the 17th of December, and it wasn't until the 20th did I realize that I didn't have anything for anyone. Georg and the rest of the crew were in the same boat that I was in, so in the end we just decided to have a small party with our family and friends. Tom invited Diane, and I of course invited Nora. The party was going to be at Bill and Tom's house this time, and anyone who wanted to crash was welcome to. I was planning on staying, and I was secretly hoping that Nora was, too.

Sadly, even though they were invited, none of our families were going to be able to make it. Part of me was somewhat glad about this, but the other part of me was disappointed that I wasn't going to see my family and the family of my band mates yet. We only had a limited amount of time left before we would start touring. It also reminded me of a day that I have been dreading. That is the day that Nora leaves Germany, and this time she wasn't going to be coming back. We had a little more than a week until that happened.

I stifled a yawn as I tied my shoes. I hadn't been sleeping great ever since I got back home, and I wasn't entirely sure why. I fell asleep fine, but when I woke up I felt as if I had slept on a pile of rocks. Standing up, I decided to get ready for the party.

Like usual, I got there a little early. The twins didn't mind, though. Immediately upon entering I was put to work: placing this on this table, moving this over here... I couldn't help but think that they had put this off to the last minuet with getting everything ready. By the time to doorbell rang, we had finally finished. Tom called them in, and we greeted Heidi and Georg. Heidi unwrapped herself from her scarf and relieved herself of her jacket before coming into the house. She and Georg hung their coats and such on the coat rack by the front door, slipping their shoes off at the same time. I was about to follow the rest of the group back to the living room when I heard laughing outside. My heart leaped, and I dashed to the door. I opened it, and Nora jumped.

"Gah!" she sputtered, stumbling backwards a little bit. Luckily Diane there was there to catch her, and she sat her right back on her feet. Once she regained her balance she gave me a smile, her face turning an all-to-familar shade of red.

"Hey, Gusti," she said, and my heart fluttered. She hadn't called me Gusti since her dad died, and I felt my heart swell when I heard my nick-name. I opened the door for her and Diane, taking their coats. Diane immediately went to harass Tom, though from the way he greeted her it didn't look like he minded. I closed the door, and then turned to Nora.

"Hey there, Nora," I greeted her, and she smiled. Her hair was in braided pig-tails and it gave me the chance to really see her face, places that were usually hidden by a layer of hair. She had on her brown turtleneck again, making her cheeks rosy and her eyes more vibrant.

"Nora! Come back here! You can't hog her, Gustav," Bill shouts, and Nora laughs a little. She starts walking towards the living room, and I follow close behind. She joined everyone on the couch, and I sat down next to her. Diane had made herself quite comfortable on Tom's lap, his hand casually laying on her thigh. We watched movies and talked, and when dinner was done we started eating. Bill and Tom had hired for some catering, which we were grateful for: Nora didn't know and didn't need to experience the horrors of the twin's cooking. We all sat at the dinning room table somehow. It was cramped, but being surrounded by friends I didn't really mind.

Later in the evening we played some video games, mostly racing ones. Diane played against Tom and surprisingly whooped his ass. Naturally he asked for a re-run, and Diane accepted. Later she told us her secret: she had 3 younger brothers.

At some point I think we got Nora to try. Even thought she lost, she didn't do to bad. She was the quiet kind of gamer: the ones that would concentrate on the game quietly and not make any noise until after she was done. The entire time she raced against Bill she had her tongue stuck out, leaning in towards the TV. She lost by only a few seconds.

We played games like this for a few good hours. After her defeat with Bill Nora was disqualified from the competition that they were happening. Right now the finalists were Diane and Bill, and I personally had my money on Diane. Right now they were about tied, and once they finished this last 10 minute-long race, they would determine the winner. Nora quietly watched them, a smile on her face.

"You having fun?" I asked her, and she nodded her head. Beside me, her shoulder brushed up against mine, and my heart beat quickened. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, my ears beginning to burn. Nora also blushed blushed, but she melted against my body. The weight of her on me calmed me, it was comfortable. I resisted the urge to bury my face in her hair. I turned my attention back to Diane and Bill.

"I miss this..." she murmured, and I look at her in confusion. She nods at my arm that was around her. "This. I miss being with you like this, like we were on the trip," she explains. She blushes more when she says this, a small smile hidden beneath her lips. _Should I tell her?_ I pondered. Before I could think on it any more, I opened my mouth.

"N-Nora, I-"

"Yes!" Diane shouts, pumping her fist in the air. A wail of defeat escapes Bill, and Diane punches Bill in the shoulder in triumph. "Take that you bastard!" she says, and Georg and Tom whoop. I feel my heart drop a little now that the moment was gone and I give a small sigh. I give Diane my congrats, but she didn't really hear me.

"I knew that she was going to win," Nora says, and I raise my eyebrow at her.

"How?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I don't really know. But Diane always wins. That's just how she works," she said. I couldn't help but smile.

The rest of the party went pretty much like this. At some point one of the guys thought it would be funny to put mistletoe over Nora and I, and although it was incredibly convincing to kiss her, I didn't know how she felt back. Plus, if she fainted, I really didn't want to explain why she did to the guys. When she left, we parted with a quick hug, and with a 'goodbye'. When she closes the door to leave with Diane, I feel someone smack the back of my head. Yelping, I turn around to see who the culprit is. There, I meet the disapproving faces of my band mates.

"What?" I ask, irritated.

"You let her go, dude!" Bill whines, and I look at him confused.

"What" I say again, and he rolls his eyes.

"We totally gave you multiple opportunities to tell her how you feel, and you blew all of them!" Bill mutters at me, crossing his arms. I sigh.

"Look, now is not the time..."

"And when _is_ the time going to be?" Bill asks me. I'm caught off guard by his question.

"Wha- Well, soon..." I said, and Tom rolls his eyes.

"Dude, in case you forgot, Nora is leaving in a little more than a week. Once that happens, who knows if she will be able to come back to Germany." I purse my lips at this reminder, and I sigh.

"I know..." I mutter.

"Then get your act together!" Tom yells at me, and I glare at him.

"In case you forgot, her father just died..."

"And she is doing fine," Bill interrupts. He raises his eyebrows at me, giving me a look that says "thats-a-pretty-lame-excuse-dude". I sighed. He was right. It is a a pretty lame excuse. As I followed my band mates to the kitchen, I felt as if there was a ticking bomb behind me.

The clock was ticking.

**W**hat **O**bscure** W**orlds!~Thirty-first Embarrassment, END


	33. Chapter 32

Thirty-second Embarrassment

**NORA:**

Diane and I couldn't stop fussing over the party tonight.

For some reason or another we decided to dress nice, or at least a little nicer than our typical everyday clothes. After much rummaging, I managed to find a dress that Diane bought me for Christmas.

It was modest, and I was glad that she thought of that. It had a turtleneck to it with short sleeves. It had grey buttons that went all the way down to the bottom, accompanied by a grey belt. It was a kind of a grey-sky blue, and it actually looked really pretty. It was knit, so when I wore it it felt like one huge sweater on me. It came down to a little bit above my knees. I took my hair out of the braids that they were in, and immediately my normally brown straight hair was brown and wavy. I grabbed some hairspray in an attempt to keep those waves. Diane slipped in the bathroom next to me, cooing.

"Aww, Nora, you look so cute! Gustav's not going to know what to do with you," she giggled, and I blushed a little. Out of habit, I fingered the vial of my dad's ashes before slipping it underneath my dress. I slipped on a pair of ugs-much to Diane's dismay-and I waited for Diane to finish.

She, of course, was wearing a little black dress. She curled her hair a little, making it seem much fuller than it actually was. She put on a layer of lip gloss and put some eye makeup before she declared herself done. When she came out, I almost didn't recognize her. I could tell that she was trying to stun Tom, and hell, I'm 99.9% sure that it's going to work. She slipped on a pair of heels before we made our way out the door... grabbing our coats of course.

We caught a cab to Bill and Tom's house, where the party was being held at. This was the last time I would be seeing Gustav until the Thursday. The day we left Germany, this time for good.

Diane and I talked about our trip, about some of the things that we did and didn't do. Brian and May went off on their own thing during the entire trip, and Thursday would be the first time we would see them since we first landed in Germany. I was excited to see them and see what they did during their time. Last I heard, they were spending a lot of their time in rural parts of Germany., enjoying the country side of it all. Enjoying each other.

"Here, stop here please," Diane chirped, pulling me out of my thoughts. She paid the driver, and we quickly got out of the cab. Diane waved the driver goodbye, and before I knew it she was dragging me up the driveway. "Come on, you silly girl, you are so slow," she giggled, and I squeaked as I stumbled a little over, of course, absolutely nothing. We reach the door, but before she knocked she turns to me. She started to fluff up my hair a little, and before I knew it she had pulled out a stick of eyeliner.

"Woah, wa-wait," I stuttered, taken back by her sudden "lets-put-make-up-on-Nora" mode. "What are you doing?" I asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"I am making you sexy. You'll thank me later," she said. She leaned over towards me, and I leaned back.

"I don't want to be sexy," I said, and she raised an eyebrow at me. "I just want to be.. me." Diane stared at me a little longer, and she smiled.

"I can do you," she said, and she leaned back over. This time I didn't move away from her. "Close your eyes for me, hun," she whispers, and I do as she tells me.

"Wow... Nora," Bill says, slightly taken back. I blush a deep red when Bill says this. I was by no means used to wearing make up and I was not used to people taking notice to me. I shyly shuffled my feet a little bit and Bill smiled at me. "You look awesome.. Hey Gustav!" he calls, and I jump. I blush even deeper as I heard his name, and I hide behind Diane.

"Don't hide behind me!" she squeals, and she moves aside. I yelped as my shield moved on me, and I tried to move behind her again. She moved once again, which sent me barreling straight into... yeah, you guessed it. Gustav.

"Woah, careful there!" he says, and I hide my face from him. I had so much blood rushing to my face that I was wondering if I had any blood left in the i_rest_/i of my body. "Why are you hiding?" he asks, and I squeak.

"Because..." I said, and I heard Bill laugh at me. Suddenly, I felt a calloused finger touch the bottom of my chin, beginning to slowly lift it up to his face. When my shy gaze meets his amused hazel eyes, I felt like my heart was going to burst. His eyes widen slightly to surprise, and I advert my gaze.

"Wow," he breathes, letting go of my chin. I peek back up at him. "You look amazing," he whispers, and I blush even deeper. I feel someone loop their arm around mine, and next thing I know I am being pulled to the living room.

"Don't make her faint now, Gustav," she chirps, and he blushes. She winks at me, and I couldn't help but laugh a little at her. She lets go of my arm when we reach the living room where Tom happens to be. "Oh Tomi," she says in a sing song voice, and when he looks up at her he gives his classic Tom smile. Secretly, I call it the creepy-creeper smile, but thats just me. Diane walked over to him, giggling. I swear to God, she was acting like she is drunk, which I know that she isn't.

I felt someone come up behind me, and I turn to see that it was Gustav. My heart beat increases, and I smile shyly.

"Hi," I said, and he laughed.

"Hey."

The party was awesome. Bill and Tom had ordered pizza again, and we played some video games again. I managed to tie with Bill this time, and I couldn't help but smug a little at him. We talked, of course, and after awhile things started to calm down. Outside, we could hear fireworks being blasted off. About 5 minutes until midnight, we all gathered out on the porch.

When I reached the freezing outside air with everyone else, I let out a shiver. I wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing my skin. Gustav came up behind me, handing me his coat. I shook my head.

"I'll be fine," I told him, but he ignored me anyway. He wrapped his jacket around my shoulders, and I melted into it's warmth. I stopped shivering, and I let out a sigh.

"T-minus 2 minutes!" Diane shouted, and I smiled. I turned back to Gustav.

"Thank you for the jacket," I told him, and he nodded. He wrapped his arms around me, and I breathed in sharply, but immediately relaxed into his embrace.

"50 seconds!" Tom called. "40... 30... 20..." We waited for 10 seconds before starting the all famous count down.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2..." we counted, and I smiled when we got to 1. "Zero!" We all shouted and whooped as suddenly hundreds of fireworks shot up in the air it seemed. It was amazing, it simply took my breathe away.

"Happy New Year!" Bill shouts, and we all shout in agreement. Slowly, people start clamoring inside, trying to get away from the cold. Gustav and I stayed there, every second longer my heart seemed to be pumping faster. Here I was alone with Gustav, with his arms wrapped around me, on a deck on New Years. I bit my lower lip nervously.

"We should go back in with the others," I said, but I feel his grip tighten on me.

"No, not yet," he whispers. I feel him shift a little bit, and next thing I knew his lips were pressed against my cheek. I feel butterflies beat at my stomach and I felt like my heart was in my throat. I tried to keep my breathing even. "Nora.." he whispers, and I turn my head towards the sound of his voice. Suddenly, I felt my lips brush against his, and I gasped.

"I-I'm so-sorry," I stammered. I tried to pull back but Gustav held me still.

"No," he whispered. I could feel his breath tickle my lips, and I felt my face heat up considerably. I felt his nose brush against mine, and I started to tremble I was so nervous. I felt his lips brush against mine once again.

I flipped.

I pulled myself away from Gustav, stumbling. I was trying so hard to not fall down, I felt as if my knees were going to give out at anytime. I looked over at Gustav, his eyes filled with shock and hurt.

"I-I..." I started, tears filling my eyes. _Why did I do that!_ I yelled at myself, and I shook my head. "I'm so sorry!" I whispered. I ran to the sliding door that lead inside the house and to the bathroom. I locked myself inside, and I collapsed on the ground. Resting my head on the toilet seat, I cried.

I continue to pack my bags, getting ready to leave. Diane went out with Tom for the night, and I wasn't expecting to see her until tomorrow. Originally she was going to go out with Tom the night before and she would meet me at the airport, but it seemed to hectic and complicated. I place the now empty urn in my suitcase, wrapped in a blanket. I pulled out my pajamas and my clothes for tomorrow before moving my suitcase to the floor.

Everything was packed.

I felt tears begin to roll down my face, and I slowly sat on the ground. I had the time of my life here in Germany, with Gustav. I was going to miss everything and everyone so much. I was going to miss Gustav.

I wiped away my tears and I blew my nose. Today was Wednesday, and I would be back in he States on Friday, which gave me Saturday and Sunday to recover from my flight, and then I would be back in school. I was going to finish my schooling, this trip has made me realize the importance of that and just how much I liked being a nurse... or at least, a nurse in training. It was going to be hard, but I knew that I could do it.

I had no idea how Gustav and I were going to manage. I mean, it's not like we are _together_, but we've experienced so much together that it was unimaginable to me living a life without him. And after last night... well, I just didn't know what to think anymore. I pushed aside my thoughts. I didn't need to think of this right now. I threw my clothes for tomorrow on top of my suitcase, and I slipped into my PJ's. Just as I was pulling my shirt down, I heard a knock at the door.

"Coming!" I call, and after making sure that I was fully covered, I walked over to the door. I opened it, and when I saw who was there, I was shocked. He was breathing heavily, and I could see sweat drop rolling down his face. His face was flushed, and he sloppily pushed up his glasses. "Gustav," I said, still shocked. "What are..."

Before I could do or even say anything else, he grabs my hand. He yanks me close to him, and when my body slams against his he kisses me. I feel his hands cup the side of my face, his lips pressed firmly against mine. I was so shocked that I couldn't do anything except stand there and let Gustav kiss me, I couldn't even squeak or blush in shock or embarrassment. I was absolutely and completely stunned.

When Gustav finally takes his lips off mine, I felt like my heart had been thrown up into my throat and then exploded. Gustav leans down and kisses me again, though this time it was so soft and gentle that I almost didn't feel it. A little unsure, I lean in closer to him, my lips pressing against his, and I feel him press back. I feel his fingers dig into my head, burying themselves in my hair. I feel his mouth open a little bit and I gasp, breathing in his air. His taste coated my tongue, and I shivered slightly at the sensation. He breathes me in, and I felt like all the air was being sucked from me. I tried to command myself to breathe through my nose but my body wouldn't listen to me. It felt like all my body was focusing on kissing Gustav back and keeping me conscious through all of this. Never in my life would I imagined that a kiss would be this sensational.

Gustav pulls back again, though this time he doesn't kiss me again. He pulls back far enough to look me in the eyes, his face flushed even more and his lips pink. I felt my own blush begin to rapidly form on my cheeks; did I seriously just kiss Gustav?

"Nora," he breathes, and my heart beat quickens. I was beginning to fear that I might have a heart attack. "Please don't go," he pleads, his voice cracking a little. In his eyes, I could see that tears were starting to form. "I love you."

**W**hat **O**bscure** W**orlds!~Thirty-second Embarrassment, END


	34. Chapter 33

Thirty-third Embarrassment

**GUSTAV:**

_Please, please say yes. Please..._

_Please don't go_

"I love you, Nora," I said, and I grabbed her hands, squeezing them. I kept opening and closing my own hands, like no matter how hard I held hers it wasn't hard enough. I was desperate and frantic to keep her here, here with me. I took a deep breath; I was on the verge of crying. I pulled her hand up to my lips, kissing them. "Please stay here, please. You can move into my apartment and you can finish your schooling here. I'll help support you with the band and you can come with us on tour, so please," I beg, and Nora looked like a deer. I was doing my best to hold back my tears. "Please Nora. Please don't go."

I continue to hold her hands, and she just looked shocked. She looked at her hands, and I dropped them. I felt my heart beating at a million miles a minute, I was so scared of her reaction and what she was going to say. She looked back up at me, this time with tears rolling down her face. Before I could say or do anything she threw herself at me, her skinny arms wrapping around my neck. I let out a soft sob, a tear escaping my eye. I wrapped her arms around her waist, lifting her up in my arms. I felt her cry against me, and I couldn't stop saying her name. _Nora Nora Nora_. I kissed the side of her head, kissed her again and again. I slowly made my way down to her face, wiping her tears away. I kissed the tip of her nose, her cheek, the cute dimple in the corner of her mouth. When my lips pressed against hers once again, I felt like all my nerves were on fire. She delicately pressed her lips back against me, and I pushed back. I seriously felt like my heart was going to explode. I felt her hands travel to the back of my head, and she pulled away, resting her forehead on mine.

"Gustav," she whispered, and I felt a shiver run up my spine as she whispered my name. "Gusti, I love you, I love you so much for so long, I just..." She stops for a moment, and I hold my breath. "I love you, and I don't really know anything else besides that." I let out a happy sob, and I hugged her once more.

Like all those times before, we woke up in each others arms. But this time was so much more different than the others. I hugged her against me, kissing her forehead. I buried my face in her hair,absorbing every single inch of her. I felt like my heart was going to burst with emotion. I couldn't believe that I had her in my arms right now, everything was just to perfect and beautiful right now for me that I was afraid that it was a dream. I pinched myself. Nope, no dream. This was good 'ol reality. I let out a smile.

When we went back inside of the hotel room, we just laid on her bed. She had started crying, saying how sorry she was for last night. I told her that it didn't matter. She just nodded her head, not able to say anything through her happy tears. She just held on to me, refusing to let go.

I closed my eyes, focusing on her breathing. I loved listening to it. It was a heartbeat; in perfect rhythm, my favorite song. I felt her stir in my arms, and she looked up at me. She gave me one of those sleepy smiles, like she had just woke up from a good dream.

"Hey, Gusti," she murmured, snuggling up closer to me. I saw her face turn red, and I smiled. I pressed my lips against her forehead, and I felt her breathe in deeply. I couldn't get over how lucky I was at this moment.

"When did you start liking me?" I asked her softly, and she sighed. "You said that you've liked me for awhile." I opened my eyes, and I saw her looking straight at me.

"I've liked you since before Germany. I've liked you since the first year we started talking," she whispered. I was slightly taken back; that was almost 3 years ago now.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked, and she raised her eyebrows at me. I laughed. "True." I kissed her one last time, and she sighed.

"I love you," she whispered, and I smiled.

"I know. I love you, too."

**W**hat **O**bscure** W**orlds!~Thirty-third Embarrassment, END


	35. Chapter 34

Thirty-fourth Embarrassment [FINAL CHAPTER]

**NORA:**

_Claudia motions for me to come closer to her, and I do. She leans over close to my ear. "Take care of my boy, okay? Take care of Gustav," she whispers. She pulls back from me, but not before giving me a kiss on the cheek. _

_Then, I wasn't really sure what she meant, but now... now I know that she was rooting for us this whole time._

"How is everything going?" Gustav asks me, his voice thick with worry. I roll my eyes at him, my sisters leaning in to try and hear what he was saying.

"Gustav. I'm just packing. I'm not going to get lost packing of all things... or hurt. I have little helpers," I say, smiling at my sisters. They giggle at me, and I put my finger to my lips.

"I guess... when are you coming back?" Gustav complains and I sigh.

"I miss you too, I'm coming back soon. In a couple days..."

"Thats not soon!" he whines, and I smile.

"Well, if I'm going to move in with you, I gotta finish packing. I'll be over soon, and this time I won't be leaving," I whisper, and I can hear him smile.

"I guess..." he says softly, and I smile. "Hurry back?" he asks, and I nod.

"OOOO! NORA AND GUSTAV SITTING IN A TREE!" My sisters start singing, and I squeak. They tackle me, and I feel my phone slip from my hand. Next thing I know, it turns into a full scale war for my phone.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Fifi and Anna giggle as they sing that all-to famous song, and I turn a bright red.

"Give me back my phone you little brats!" I shout, and they laugh. They start to run away, phone in tow, and I chase after them. "I'm going to murder you!" I shout, and they scream. I see my mom rush out of her room, scoping my phone out of Anna's hands. She puts it up to her ear.

"Hey sweetie, sorry for Anna and Fifi," she apologizes. My sisters 'boo' at our mom, and she puts her fingers to her lips. "I'm glad that you called to see how she is doing, but she has to go right now, packing and all..." I feel my jaw drop. "Okay, talk to you later sweetie." She closes my phone, slipping it into her pocket.

"Mom!" I whine, and she raises her eyebrows at me.

"Oh no, don't you 'mom' me. You get back in your room and finish packing!" she says. I roll my eyes at her, turning back down the hallway. But underneath my pouting, a smile spread across my lips.

When I told my mom that I was going to be moving to Germany, she was oddly... okay about it. When I told her that I was moving in with Gustav, she started bawling her eyes out. She was so happy for me, and I couldn't help but cry with her. Anna was mad at me for a little bit, kind of like when I first moved to college. But after a week or so, she began to talk to me again. Fifi was sad, but she was able to understand and accept it easier than little Anna was. When I got home, I found them waiting for me in my apartment, and have been hanging around ever since.

Diane was depressed that I was going to be moving to Germany, but at the same time she was happy for me. She and Tom exchanged numbers, though when I asked her about it she said they only wanted to be friends at most. Neither of them were looking for a serious relationship right now. Diane was to worked up about graduating, and Tom was to worked up about Tokio Hotel.

I got a lot of crap from people about moving to Germany. My favorite teacher, Mr. Lazarro, questioned my reasons, but when I told him that I had known him years before the trip, he relaxed. He gave me a nod, a strong handshake, and told me good luck.

Before I left, I managed to finish my classes... barely. Since I was a senior, I was graduating this year. This was apart of the deal that Gustav and I had made: I wanted to at least finish my schooling, which was only a couple more months. It gave me more time to sell everything, my apartment, my stuff, and ship things to Gustav's apartment, where Claudia was staying. When Gustav and I told her that I was moving in with him, she was overjoyed. She winked at Gustav, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She thanked me.

I managed to graduate early. Diane, May and Brian threw me a small going away party, wishing me the best of luck. I gave them my best wishes for the rest of their year.

Sadly, I wouldn't be able to go on most of the tour with Gustav. I would be joining them for the last leg of the tour, but that was it. At the moment, I was mostly packed, had almost everything shipped over to Germany, and was just picking up the last minute necessities, things that I would be taking with me on the tour bus with me. As I finished up packing, I hear someone come in the room. I turn to see my mom.

"Hey, mom," I say, a smile blooming on my face. I turn back to the box that I had found: a box of old photos. She comes over to me, looking over my shoulder.

"I didn't know that you still had these," she whispers, and I nod. She picks one up of my father. He was sitting with my new-born baby Anna and a 10-year-old me at the park. Fifi would join our family 5 years later. I watched as mom stroked the face of my father, tears filling her eyes. She blinked, and they disappeared. A pang of sorrow filled my heart, and I hugged my mom. She wrapped her arms around me, not letting go of the photo. "Your father," she said, her voice quivering. "Would be so proud of you, Nora-badora," she says. As if the whole scene wasn't emotional enough, this was the icing on the cake. Tears pooled in my eyes, and I sniffled. She hugged me closer, and I tried to blink away my tears.

"I love you mom, I'm going to miss you," I whispered, and she kissed my head.

"Oh honey, I will too. But you are such a strong girl, and you have Gustav with you. You will be fine." she said, and I smiled.

"Your right," I said, Gustav's face hanging in my mind. "I will."

Saying goodbye was hard. Anna started crying, just like she did years ago when I left for college. Fifi had tears in her eyes, but she wouldn't let herself cry like her little sister. I kissed and hugged them multiple times, telling them I would call them when I got there. I promised not to forget. When it came to tell my mom goodbye, I was crying so hard I was beginning to wonder if I was making the right decision. But when I remember Gustav who would be waiting for me, I knew that I was making the right decision. When I finally pried myself from my families grip and walked through the security gate, I couldn't help but look back through the plastic barrier.

My sisters had their arms wrapped around each other, and my mom was hugging both of them. They were all watching me, and I smiled. I waved at them, and they all waved back, smiles blooming on their faces.

"I love you," I called, and they smiled. I could see my mom cry a little harder, and I willed my tears to stay hidden.

"Bye Nora!" Anna called, and I smiled.

"Be safe, don't get lost!" Fifi reminded me, and I nodded. I started to turn away when I head my mom called out to me.

"Nora!" she calls, and I look back at them. She wiped away some of her tears. "Remember, Nora. Breathe," she reminds me. A few tears roll down my cheek as she spoke my dad's advice to me, and I nodded. Then, I picked up my bag, and I started walking to my gate.

I took a deep breath in.

_I ran my fingers through the sand on the warm Californian beach, a sigh escaping me. The wind whipped at my hair, and I watched my sisters make a castle in the sand, my mom helping them collect shells. I looked over to my right and smiled._

_"You know, you aren't going to get a view like this in Germany," my dad said, and I laughed._

_"What, are you going to try and talk me out of it now?" I asked him, and he smiled. _

_"No, I'm just letting you know," he said, and I smiled. "That Gustav," he said, and I tilted my head, listening keenly. "He's a good guy. You'll be happy with him." He looked towards me, his blue eyes twinkling in the sun. His short brown hair danced in the wind. He looked back out at the ocean to where the rest of our family is. "You'll still take good care of them, right?" he asks me, and I look at him horrified._

_"Dad, I wouldn't ever abandon them," I said defensively, and he laughs._

_"I know, honey. I'm just making sure that they will be all right with both of us gone," he said. I looked back out at my two baby sisters and my beautiful mom. Would they be alright? I smiled._

_"They will be fine. Mom is doing really well, and the girls are doing good too. They'll be sad for awhile, but they will be fine," I said. I see my dad turn towards me. _

_"How about you," he asks. "Are you doing fine?"_

_I take a moment to think about this. Sure, I missed my dad still, I would still cry every once in awhile. But I laugh and smile more than I am sad. I nod._

_"I am fine. It was hard at first, you know, but I'm fine... I have Gustav," I said, my heartbeat fluttering a little when I said his name. My dad smiled._

_"Oh Gustav. You'll be happy with him," he said again, and I laugh._

_"You're acting like I'm going to get married to him!" I exclaim, and he gives me a sad smile._

_"Well, I'll never know," he says sadly. I feel my heart throb a little._

_"Sorry," I murmur, and he shrugs._

_"You are okay." We sit there for a little bit in silence. Suddenly, my dad stands up._

_"Well, I should get going," he says, and I look at him in dismay, standing up with him. _

_"Wait, go where?" I ask, and he smiles, pointing back up there._

_"Oh, that big hospital in the sky," he jokes, and I couldn't help but crack a smile. He laughs a little, his carefree smile plastered on his face. We look at each other for a moment before he opens his arms to me. I walk into them, tears pooling in my eyes._

_"I miss you, daddy," I whisper, and he strokes my back. _

_"I know sweetheart, I know," he soothes, and I feel a tear roll down my face. We stand there for a moment, my dad softly rocking me back and forth. "Nora,-badora," he whispers to me, and I look up at him, wiping my tears away from him. He smiles, pushing aside some of my hair. "I love you, sweetheart. You are beautiful, smart, funny, and you are strong. You are a wonderful person, and I know that you will take care of yourself, your mother and the girls," he says, and I nod at him, a couple more tears rolling down my cheeks. He carefully takes the vial of ashes that was hanging on a chain around my neck, holding it up where I can see it. He looks me in the eyes, his blue eyes still sparkling. "I am always with you, okay?" he says, and I nod. He smiles, kissing my forehead._

_"I love you dad," I whisper, and he nods._

_"I love you too, Nora." Then, he hugs me one more time. "I am so proud of you."_

_The wind starts to blow harder, and I see a familiar grey ribbon begin to blow away from me. Ashes. As my dad starts to blow away in the wind I hold back my tears. He kisses me one last time._

_"Remember, Nora-Badora, breathe."_

When I open my eyes, I hear the seatbelt sign ringing. I look out the window, and I see that the plane was getting closer and closer to the ground. Within a minute the tires were screeching on the run way, and I was gripping at the seat for dear life. When the plane had slowed down considerably, I felt my hand go up to my neck, and the cool glass of the vial tickled my finger tips. I smiled.

"I love you too, daddy." I whispered. I tucked the vial underneath my shirt just as the seatbelt sign turned off. I began to unbuckle my seatbelt. I was so excited, I was trembling, and I shakily stood up. I carefully made my way out of my seat, opening the over-head compartment for my book-bag. I slid it out, and I hung it on my shoulder. A smile bloomed on my face as I started to make my way down the aisle.

I hurriedly made my way down the pathway between the airport gate and the plane, my heart beat increasing. When I burst through into the airport, I began searching frantically for Gustav. I walked further out, not seeing him. I began to wonder if he was late.

Suddenly, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I spun around, and there he was.

"Gustav," I breathed, and he smiled.

"Hey there, Nora-badora," he says, and I smile. I throw myself into his arms, and he kisses me. I pull back, resting my head against his.

"I'm here."

**W**hat **O**bscure** W**orlds!~Thirty-fourth Embarrassment, FINAL CHAPTER, END


	36. Epilogue

The Embarrassment to End Them All

**NORA:**

7 YEARS LATER

I stretch my back a little bit, stifling a yawn. My scrubs rubbed up against me in a sort of comfort, and I leaned back in my chair. My 12-hour shift was almost over, and my co-worker looked over at me.

"Thats what you get for pulling that extra shift," she tuts, and I roll my eyes.

"It'll be worth it. I get more time off this way," I yawn. "Ugh, I need coffee," I groan. My co-worker laughs.

"Again, thats what you get for pulling an extra shift" she says in a sing-song voice. I lovingly smack her.

"Oh, shut up Diane," I mutter, giving her a sly smile. "I still get to go home in..." I check my watch. "10 minutes." She squints at me, the bags under her eyes making her look like an old raccoon.

"You shut up. I have..." she groans as she checks her own watch. "7 and a half more hours. Why did I take a night shift?" she asks me. I shrug.

"Beats me. Why would I know what's going on in your head?" I ask, and she smiles.

"I think you would faint if you were inside my mind," she said, and I laughed. I see the head nurse walk by us.

"Hey there, Nora," she greets, and I smile.

"Hi, Katie," I respond, and she smiles, then glares at Diane.

"Diane, get your feet off the desk," she barks, and Diane rolls her eyes at her. "Nora, you get off in 10, right?" she asks, and I nod. She jerks her head back towards the lockers. "You go on ahead, you've had a long shift. Have a great vacation, okay?" I feel my heart lift, and I gave her a huge smile.

"Thanks so much, Katie!" I chirp, and she gives me a smile, continuing to walk off to wherever she was going. Diane turns to me, her jaw dropped.

"What are you, some kind of temptress? She is pretty much the Nazi of this floor," she hisses, and I smile. I point at her feet.

"Well for one," I start. "I don't put my feet of the desk." Diane smacks me with her magazine as I stand up, and I yelp. Stretching one last time, I start walking towards the lockers. "I'll see you in a couple weeks!" I call, and I hear her grunt in reply. I smile, knowing that that was the best I was going to get out of her.

When I reach my locker I immediately enter in my combination. Yanking the lock open, it doesn't take long for me to swiftly change. I had a T-shirt under my scrub top, so all I really had to do was change into my pants. I shoved my scrubs into my backpack and making sure I had gathered everything, began making my way out.

I had gotten better at certain things. I took a couple cooking classes, and I can manage to boil water now without burning myself. My clumsiness has become more controllable now, so I wasn't stumbling over thin air now... just over every other object. Hey, it's an improvement. I gave up World of Warcraft 7 years ago.

As I pass Diane, she throws a ball at me, and I barely catch it. i_Have fun, love. Fuck Gustav brainless for me. ;)/i_. I roll my eyes, blushing slightly.

"Love you too hun," I call to her, and she ignores me. Peeking towards her, I could see her smile wickedly behind her magazine. Laughing, I continued walking down towards the hospital elevators. Some people never change. I slip into the elevator just as it closes.

"Hey Nora, leaving early?" I turn to see Laura there, and I laugh.

"Yeah, Katie let me go early," I told her, and she raises her eyebrows.

"You mean the Nazi Katie? What kind of dirt do you have on her?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"I guess she just likes me," I said, and she rolls her eyes.

"She doesn't like anyone," she retorts, and we both giggle. "You going on vacation with your hubby?" she asked, and I nod. "Dude, he better propose this time. Diane and I each lost $100 to Leon last time you know," she reminds me. I blush, remembering that.

"Yes, I know, you remind me once again..." I say, and she smirks. The elevator doors open, and Laura, myself, along with everyone else on the elevator walk out. We make our way across the lobby and into the warm August air. Laura and I bid farewell as we head in different directions; she worked in oncology, and I in the general hospital. She tells me to have fun and to be safe, and I laugh, thanking her. When I reach my car, I quickly slip inside. I hear something crunch under me, and I immediately stand back up, smacking my head into the car.

"Shit! Ouch!" I shout, holding my head. I hop out of the car, trying not to fall over. I look over to see what I had sat on. It was a piece of paper. Picking it up, I see that it had my name written on it. I opened it up, and a smile bloomed on my face.

_Hey babe._

_I'm sure you are on your way home right about now, and I bet that you just sat on this note. Just wanted to leave this here to say I love you and that I can't wait to see you tonight._

_Love, Gusti._

I coo at the letter. Suddenly smashing my head into the car wasn't that big of a deal. I put the note on my dashboard before climbing back in, crunch free. I start the car, and I start driving home with my fingers tapping excitedly.

The last time I saw Gustav was 4 months ago. They just finished a world tour, and tonight they were coming back. I wasn't able to come because of work, but I managed to go to their opening act here in Germany. We were only able to spend a night together before they left for the other side of Germany. And trust me, that one night was spent well... we hardly slept, if you get my drift.

Sex with Gustav is... wow. Just wow. I almost passed out our first time because I was so nervous, and thank God I stayed conscious. Each time is slow and intense, pure love that is so beautiful it's amazing. There are really no words to describe it. Each time leaves me breathless.

Mom and the girls are doing great, as well. Fifi is now 21, and she is a linguist for the US Navy. Mom retired and moved to Hawaii, and on her spare time does some AIDS awareness and prevention in Africa with Fifi when she is on leave. Anna has graduated high school and is in college... kinda. Her dream is for her and her band to become famous. They are already well-known in California. She's in a two-year college getting a minor in business for the sake of our moms, and my own, peace of mine. This is her last year, and they already had a record deal. I told her that I better get backstage passes to their first concert.

I giddily turned into the driveway of Gustav and I's apartment. It's the same apartment that he had when I first moved to Germany, with a pieces here and there that suggested I lived there. I turned the ignition off, and grabbing my backpack, hurry out of the car. I didn't even have a chance to open the door, because it flies open for me. Squealing, I run into my boyfriends arms.

"Gusti!" I squeal, and he laughs as he hugs me back. We make our way inside the apartment before we kiss. He wraps his arms around my midsection and I cup his face, trying to get as close to him as possible.

"I've.. missed... you," I breathe in between kisses, and I feel Gustav smile against me.

"Stop," he whispers, and I smile. "Just kiss me," he says, and I do as he says. I press myself harder against him, and he grunts. My exhaustion from just minutes ago seemed to disappear, Gustav seemed to be pouring energy into me. He kisses me more forcefully, and I feel butterflies beat at my stomach. I knew where this was leading. I felt a huge stab of guilt as I pulled back.

"Gusti..." I gasp, and he kisses my neck.

"Hmmm?" he asks, and I bite my lip.

"I... I'm really sorry... But I really gotta pee," I squeak. He stops, looking at me.

"I guess thats my fault," he says guiltily, and I hold fingers out, making a small gap with my thumb and forefinger.

"Just a little," I say. I kiss him one last time before I make a desperate dash to the bathroom.

"I'll be right there!" I call, and he laughs as I slam the door. I rip my belt off and kick my pants completely off, relieving myself. I let out a relived sigh. I finished up my business and after flushing, washed my hands. I kicked my belt and pants over to a corner of the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, tousling my hair a little. I felt my heart beat increase as I opened the door, creeping to our bedroom. I peek inside, and I see Gustav lying on the bed, shirtless. I blush a little as I skip over to him, and he laughs.

"Why do you still blush when you're with me?" he asks, and I shrug.

"I don't know... that's just who I am," I say, and he accepts this. I climb on the bed, and he pulls me over to him. He rests his head against mine for a moment.

"I missed you, Nora," he whispered, and I smiled. I kiss the tip of his nose, and he smiles. Slowly, he kisses me back, first so softly that it felt like butterflies fluttering against my lips, and they slowly build in intensity. He slowly lays me down on the bed, my heart beating faster and faster. I gasped a little as I felt his hands creep up my back, my skin tingling from his touch. He breaks away from he, breathing hard. I cup his face, my fingers getting tangled in his blonde hair. My face was still pretty red and my heart was in my throat. I gasped for breath, and Gustav leaned his head down on my, our noses bumping against each other.

"I love you," he breathes, and I smile. I nod.

"I know. I love you too," I say almost shyly. Gustav laughs at me, planting a soft kiss on my lips.

As our kiss became much more beautiful, this would be a good time for me to say that, the rest, is history.

Life is a game. Everyone is the players. We all get killed off at some point, some of us earlier than others. We all get in battles with other people: most likely all of us will experience the affects of war. We all gain experience points as we make it to each new level, we all "level up" as we grow older. We grow attached to certain characters, and sometimes they stay with you until the end of the game, and sometimes you need to go your separate ways. There are some things in life you can control and some things that you don't, just like a game. Part of it is programmed in and no matter how much we wish something won't happen, we can't change it. We are all given our hand, and it's up to us whether to complain over a bad hand, or try and make the best of it. It's better to think _Wow, this is a crappy hand... let's see what I can do with this!_/i rather than i_Ugh, shitty hand. I can't do anything with this!_ We just gotta do the best we can to survive and make it to that final battle.

"_Do not look back, and grieve over the past_

_For it is gone;_

_Do not be troubled about the future,_

_For it has not yet come._

_Live in the present, and make it so beautiful_

_That it will be worth remembering."_

-Unknown

**W**hat **O**bscure** W**orlds!~The Embarrassment to End Them All, END

OMG YOU GUYS. IT IS OVER. *BAWLS*

Thanks to everyone who read and commented! I will be posting a new story very shortly - again, a pre-written FF so chapters will come out fast. But I want you all to chose! Below are three options, whichever gets the most votes will be what I post next.

1) **Bleeding to Know I'm Alive(a Tom Kaulitz FF)** Angel Chantelle Song is albino, homeless, and a orphan who can't seem to remember her past. She does remember, however, rotting in a musty orphanage for 3 years and having nobody adopt her, more than just because of her weird appearance and being 17; Angel is mute. In a world where ones voice is the key to success, is it possible for her to follow her dreams into a world of music?

2) **When Birds Cry(a Bill Kaulitz FF)** When doctors tell Bill Kaulitz that he has a cyst on his vocal cords, the band wastes no time in prepping the young singer for surgery. A successful operation suddenly turns sour when Tokio Hotel is faced with a horrid reality; Bill Kaulitz has forever lost the ability to sing.  
>With no intentions on replacing Bill, Tokio Hotel is forced to break up, an Bill is thrown into a world that is very much different from the world of a rock star, and he finds that everything he thought he knew was just a mirage. A suicide attempt and a hospital admission later, a girl with the voice of an Angel nurses Bill back into sanity. Bonded by their passion of music, Bill frees Tziporah from her parent's strangling leash, gives her a microphone, and together they give each other their voices the wings to soar.<p>

3) **A Single Facade** Bill and Tom move to a new school just in time to join the terror of their new town of the serial killer known as Lamia. Lilibeth has always had a failing memory, but she seems to be loosing entire days when the new school year starts. Lilibeth and Bill begin to build a romantic bond, while Tom begins to chase after a mysterious girl who looks disturbingly alike to Lilibeth. When a friend is dragged into Lamia's clutches, Bill and Tom dig up a horrifying discovery: Lamia is connected to both Bill and Tom's dearly beloved in a dearly deadly way

Let me know in the reviews okay!


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